


In The Wind

by julio144



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Season/Series 06, Romance, Series epilogue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:22:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 49,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27547534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julio144/pseuds/julio144
Summary: Annie comes back from her internship, and Jeff meets her at the airport. Both have had a lot of time to think about what they want, and find that they might both just want the same thing.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Jeff Winger
Comments: 70
Kudos: 71





	1. A Long, Long Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction, so this may be a little rough. I plan on continuing this story, though I'm not exactly sure what that will look like, timeline wise. Anyways, thank you for reading! Any and all feedback is appreciated!

Despite his outwardly cool demeanor, his heart was pounding in his chest. Jeff Winger was not known for wearing his emotions on his perfectly fit designer sleeve, but this was different. It'd been 82 days since he'd dropped Annie and Abed off at this airport (though he'd never admit that he'd been counting). He'd spent every single one thinking about the last time he and Annie had been alone in the study room. He thought about how finally, after almost six years of confusion, shame, self-loathing, and suppressed emotions, he'd managed to admit, not just to her, but to himself, how he'd felt about her.

As he mused to himself about his own staggering emotional stuntedness, he wondered if Annie had thought about that night at all. After all, what was it she said before he'd kissed her? _I'm in my twenties, I'll regret it for a week._ Maybe she'd moved on. Maybe, during her summer with the FBI, she'd met a dashing young agent who'd swept her off her feet and made her forget all about Jeff Winger. Or maybe she'd thought about it every day, scribbling little hearts with JW+AE in the margins of her notes. Or, more likely, she'd been so focused on her internship, that she hadn't thought about anything but taking notes on the importance of preserving a crime scene.

His mind racing, Jeff almost missed Annie walking into baggage claim. Sheepishly, he held up the cardboard sign with _Special Agent Annie Edison_ written in Sharpie. As soon as she saw it, Annie ran over to him, throwing her arms around him in a fierce hug.

"Jeff!" Her voice sounded different than what he remembered, a bit deeper, maybe. "I wasn't expecting you to pick me up alone. Where's Britta?"

"She's back at the apartment. She said she wanted to make sure everything was ‘perfect’ for when you get there." He paused, doing his best to fight through what he hoped wasn't a heart attack. "Plus I thought it might be nice for us to catch up a bit, just the two of us."

The two of them chatted a bit while Jeff grabbed Annie’s bag from the carousel and then they made their way to Jeff’s Lexus. Jeff opened the passenger’s side front door for Annie. “M’lady.”

Annie curtsied as she sat down in the car seat. “M’lord.”

Jeff popped the trunk and stowed Annie’s suitcase before getting into the driver’s seat. Jeff pulled out of the parking space and made his way towards the highway. “How was your internship? I sent you a couple of texts, but I guess you were too busy fighting crime to get back to me.” A wry smile spread across his face.

Annie looked at her feet bashfully. “I uhh... meant to get back to you, but yeah, they kept us pretty busy…” She paused for a moment. “The lab in Quantico was incredible! I was with the Operational Projects Unit, so it was a lot of learning to survey and document crime scenes, how to give testimony, that sort of thing. And oh my god! The facility there was _amazing_! Everything was so high tech! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Annie practically bounced in her seat and a huge smile stretched across her face. “And the people! They’re all so incredibly smart and driven! It was so rewarding!”

As Annie paused to take a breath, Jeff cut in. “So, absolutely nothing like Greendale, then, I take it? How was it being surrounded by actual competent professionals for once?”

Annie slapped Jeff’s arm playfully. “Greendale’s not _that_ bad. I mean, you’re there...and there's, umm…Professor Duncan's not too awful…" Annie responded sheepishly.

"Exactly. But hey, even though Greendale's a toilet, it'll always be _our_ toilet." Jeff chuckled to himself. "But seriously, it sounds like you had a great experience. And like you finally found your people. Were there any other interns you worked with?" Jeff tried to sound characteristically disinterested.

"Oh, well, there was one other intern. He was from Iowa, I think. We really got along great."

Jeff's heart sank like a stone. "Oh?" Despite trying to sound inquisitive, he couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice.

"Yeah. He reminded me a lot of Abed. He was always talking about movies and TV. He was even a huge fan of _Inspector Spacetime_! It really made me miss being here with you... guys" Annie's quickly added on the last word.

Jeff's heart began to pound again, and his hands were sweaty on the steering wheel. "I-we missed you a lot too." Jeff swallowed hard, his eyes locked on the road. "Everyone will be glad to see you. Troy finally finished his trip with LeVar Burton, and Shirley moved her dad to a place in Denver so she could be closer to her kids." Jeff reached down and placed his hand on the shifter. "I'm sure Frankie would love to know all about your internship. And...Chang's around. doing...Chang things..." Jeff trailed off.

The two sat in silence for a bit, both wanting to say something to break the awkward silence, but neither sure of what to say. Finally, Annie found the courage to speak. "I thought about you every day. About what you said before I left. About that kiss...about what would happen when I came back... _if_ I came back…and I guess…" Annie placed her hand over Jeff's. “I still want to go out and experience life, and do all these things, but I want _you_ there with me when I do.”

Jeff felt his heart skip a beat and turned his head to look at Annie. “I…” Jeff was at a loss for words for the first time in a very long time. His mind raced with a thousand things he wanted to say to her, but none of those things seemed right. “I don’t know what to say...I mean...are you saying that you want to be…?” Jeff trails off again, putting his eyes back on the road.

“More than friends?” Annie’s voice softens. “Yes...I am.” 

Jeff thought his heart was going to explode. He'd spent most of the last 11 weeks thinking about whether this moment would ever happen, and if it did, how it would happen. And now that it was here, now that Annie had admitted that she reciprocated his feelings, he didn't know what to do. He was overwhelmed with joy, but also incredibly nervous. If the two of them started dating, what would the others think? Would they be supportive? Or would they crucify him? After all, he was still significantly older than her, and though she was no longer the naive 19-year-old with a crush she'd been when they kissed at the end of freshman year, he couldn't help but worry that they'd still see him as some sort of creep, preying on a younger woman.

After several minutes of silence, Annie spoke. "Jeff, are you okay? Is there something wrong with your jaw?"

Jeff realized he was opening and closing his jaw like an animatronic trout. "Oh, yeah… Sorry, I was just surprised to hear your say that… And I guess a bit worried about what the others would think about us being, ya know, _together_." 

Annie put her hand back on Jeff's as she looked out at the now-familiar streets they were driving down. "I've thought about that too. And I will admit, I _am_ a bit worried they won't approve. Plus there's the issue of you being an instructor at Greendale while I'm still a student."

"You don't have to rub it in." Jeff quipped, doing his best to focus himself as he turned down Dresser Avenue. "But you're right, this could be a bit tricky. We could try not telling anyone for a bit." 

Annie rolled her eyes. "Riiight, cause that worked out _so_ well for you and Britta… And you and Slater." 

As they pulled up outside 3624 Dresser, the building where Annie had shared an apartment with Troy and Abed, and later Abed and Britta, Jeff remembered something from his ill-fated relationship with his statistics professor. "Well, now that you mention Slater, the Dean did have a form for student-teacher relationships. Though I doubt he'd be able to keep from telling anyone about this." Jeff put his car in park and shut off the engine. 

"You know what, screw it! Who cares if they judge us? We’re both adults and we can make our own decisions!" Annie's voice took on a new level of confidence. "We both want this! We should just do it."

Jeff raised his eyebrow, his confidence returning. "Are you sure? I mean, the backseat is kinda cramped." He joked.

Annie playfully slapped his arm. "Jeff! That's gross! And not at all what I meant!" There was a hint of laughter in her voice. “What I _meant_ , Jeff, is that we should _date_. You know, be a couple. Do couple things together.”

Jeff sat for a moment, considering this proposition. He had been unprepared for Annie to reciprocate his feelings, and now that he knew she did, he felt both joy, and an increase in his anxiety. Before he had a chance to fully gather his thoughts and respond, he heard a series of two raps on the window. Turning his head and rolling down the window, he found Britta standing outside the car, a mildly annoyed look on her face. 

“Hey, are you just gonna sit in the car, Jeff, or are you coming upstairs? Everybody’s waiting!” Britta turned to Annie, her voice changing from annoyed to overjoyed. “Annie! It’s so great to see you! I can’t wait to hear all about your internship!”

“Britta! I was _just_ telling Jeff we should head upstairs, wasn’t I Jeff?” Annie playfully nudged Jeff with her elbow. 

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry, we got distracted catching up.” Jeff added, doing his best not to let his nerves show in his voice.

Britta eyed Jeff suspiciously. “Well, why don’t you come upstairs and you can ‘catch up’ with everyone else?”

“Alright. Can you help me with Annie’s bags then?” Jeff retorted snarkily.

Before Britta could give her own snarky response, Annie cut in. “Oh, we can come get those later! Everyone’s already waiting upstairs, let’s not make them wait any longer!” Annie unbuckled her seat belt and hopped out of the car, running around the front to give Britta a quick hug. “C’mon Jeff!” Annie beckoned for Jeff to follow her and Britta as they began to make their way into the apartment building.

Jeff took a moment to center himself before getting out of his car and following behind the two women, half-listening to them talk. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third floor, Britta lowered her voice and leaned in a bit closer to Annie. 

“So, Annie, did you meet any cute guys in D.C.?” Britta put a strange emphasis on ‘cute guys’.

“Well,” Annie glanced back at Jeff. “There is _one_ guy I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.”

“Oh _really_?” Britta drew out the word ‘really’ a bit. “Well, we will definitely have to talk about that later.” Britta also shoots a look at Jeff, one that is a combination of confusion and mild annoyance. “But for now…” Britta stopped in front of apartment #303, opening the door. “Let’s celebrate!”

Inside the apartment, Shirley, Troy, Frankie, Chang, Dean Pelton, and Professor Duncan were all seated around the dinner table. As Annie, Britta, and Jeff entered, everyone jumped to their feet and rushed to greet Annie. Shirley, and Troy both hugged Annie warmly, with Chang awkwardly moving in for a hug as well. Duncan and the Dean greet Annie with a nod. Finally, Frankie went to shake Annie’s hand, though Annie quickly pulled her into a brief hug. 

As the rest of the group greeted Annie and started to catch up, Britta pulled Jeff aside. “What was that look Annie gave you?” Her voice was low and sharp.

“What look? Did Annie give me a look?” Jeff did his best to play dumb.

“Yeah. When I asked if she met any guys, she gave you a _look._ ”

“Well, you’d have to ask her. I didn’t notice her giving me any sort of look.” Jeff shrugged and moved to join the rest of the group. Britta watched him for a moment, a sour look on her face, before following.

Grabbing a seat at the table next to Annie, Jeff found himself in the middle of an argument between Duncan and Chang about whether the sport is properly called ‘football’ or ‘soccer’. While Duncan’s argument was based largely on the widespread use of the term ‘football’ throughout most of the world, Chang’s seemed to be primarily based on Duncan being a drunk, and the British being a bunch of cheese-eating cowards. 

“Uh, Chang, I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of the French, not the British,” Jeff interjected.

“Thank you!” Duncan exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to explain that to him for close to an _hour_!”

“Oh, like there’s a difference!” Chang shot back.

From there, Chang and Duncan began to argue about the difference between the British and the French (who Chang is now confusing with the Dutch, Germans, and the Pope). After listening in for several minutes, Jeff decided to grab a drink from the kitchen. 

As he stood up and turned towards the kitchen, Jeff’s hand brushed against Annie’s shoulder, and she briefly looked at him and smiled, Britta glaring at him when she noticed. Making his way into the kitchen, Jeff opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. Turning to grab a bottle opener, he found the Dean standing behind him. 

“Jeffrey!” The Dean had his usual ecstatic tone. “You must be excited to have Annie back. I know you two were always so close. You know, if you’re ever lonely or need some companionship, I’m right next door!”

Jeff sighed heavily. “You don’t have to remind me, Craig.” Jeff found the bottle opener and took a hard drink. “I do actually have something I want to talk to you about though, if you have a minute.” Jeff’s voice lacked its usual confident aloofness.

“Of course, Jeffrey. I always have time for you.” The Dean placed his hand on Jeff’s shoulder.

Jeff looked at the hand, mildly annoyed. “Right. So, back a few years ago, when Professor Slater and I were dating, you had a form for us to fill out. Is that still a thing for student-teacher relationships?”

“Oh my! Is Jeffrey Winger getting serious with someone? And a student, no less! Is it Renée, that redhead who was in your Intro to Law class? I’ve seen the way she looks at you.” Jeff gave the Dean a stern look. “You know what, don’t tell me. I want to be dean-lightfully surprised! Why don’t you and your mystery girl come by my office on Monday and we can get everything sorted out!”

“Thanks…” Jeff walked back to the rest of the group with his beer, taking his seat next to Annie. Duncan and Chang had concluded their argument and now everyone was listening to Troy talk about his sailing trip around the world. 

“... sailed past Tierra del Fuego. Did you know there are penguins in South America?! I thought it was all rain forests and stuff down there!” Troy excitedly described all the different vistas he and LeVar Burton had seen.

Annie leaned in close to Jeff, her hand brushing against his. “Troy was just telling us about his trip,” she whispered. 

“Didn’t you get lonely?” Shirley asked. “I mean, just you and LeVar Burton on that boat for months?”

“A little. I guess you just get used to it after a while though. Plus, we got to meet all sorts of people when we docked for supplies and stuff. Did you know that people from Madagascar are called Malagasy? And that there’s an _Indian_ Ocean?” Troy continued to talk about his travels.

The party continued for several more hours, with first Duncan and Chang leaving in an Uber, both too drunk to drive, then Frankie. Finally, the Dean stood up to leave. “Remember what I said, Jeffrey. You and your mystery girl can stop by my office any time!”

The door shut behind the Dean, leaving just members of the Study Group. Everyone, now a bit more spread out around the table, looked at Jeff. “Jeff, man, you found yourself a girl?” Troy asked, grinning.

“Yeah, Jeff, how come you haven’t said anything to the rest of us?” Britta eyed Jeff suspiciously, her voice practically dripping with venom.

“Oh, lay off of him, Britta. You know Jeff likes his privacy!” Annie cut in, shooting Jeff a quick smile.

“Why are you suddenly so concerned about Jeff’s privacy? And why do you keep giving him those looks?” Britta snapped back.

“So what, I can’t look at my friends now?” Annie looked a mixture of offended and incredulous. 

“You can look at your friends all you want. But when you look at them the way you’ve been looking at Jeff all night, it makes me think there’s something going on!” Britta half stood out of her seat now, finger leveled at Annie.

“And what if there is?!” Annie shouted back, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “It wouldn’t be any of your damn business anyway!”

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Annie flew from her chair and ran from the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Everyone sat in silence for a moment, Britta glaring at Jeff, Jeff glaring back, and Troy and Shirley awkwardly looking back and forth between the two. 

Eventually, Troy spoke up. “Uhh, I think one of us should go talk to her.”

Britta pushed her chair back and began to stand. “I’ll go talk to her.”

Jeff quickly stood up. “No, I think you’ve said enough to Annie for right now. I’ll go make sure she’s okay.”

Britta shot Jeff a nasty look he pretended not to see. He exited the apartment and headed towards the stairs. He found Annie sitting halfway between the 2nd and 3rd floors, her head on her knees as she cried softly. Taking a seat next to her, he gently rested his hand on her back. “Hey, you okay?”

She brought her head up, sniffling. “Yes...No...I don’t know. I just thought this would be easier. But Britta seemed so angry at any _hint_ of us together, and I just don’t know how everyone else is going to react and I’m just…” She looked at Jeff, her eyes red and watery, her nose running.

Jeff stared back at her for a moment, blown away at how beautiful Annie managed to look, even while she was crying. “Well, first of all, who cares what Britta thinks? With one, maybe two, exceptions, she isn’t exactly known for making fantastic decisions romantically. And second, she’ll get over it.”

Annie rested her head on Jeff’s shoulder. “Do you really think you and Troy were the only good guys Britta dated?”

“ME and Troy? God no! I meant Troy and that Subway guy! When Britta and I dated, if you want to call it that, I was awful!” Jeff did his best to sound relaxed and jovial, despite his heart pounding in his throat. 

"Come on, Jeff. I'm sure you weren't that bad." Annie wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.

"No, I was awful. But I'm not that guy anymore. I mean, if you had told me back then that in a few years I'd be teaching at Greendale, and that I wouldn't be hating it entirely?" Jeff grimaced slightly as he somewhat admitted to liking his job. "I'd tell you you were crazy. But here we are. And I have you to thank for that.”

The two sat there for a few minutes, Annie’s head resting against Jeff’s shoulder. “So, I guess we should go back and explain what’s going on.” Annie sighed heavily.

“Well, that’s one option.”

“What do you mean, ‘one option’?”

“Well, the way I see it, Annie, is that we could do that. _Or_ we could just say screw it and leave. Go somewhere else. Hell, maybe we could go on that ski trip we missed out on a few years ago.”

Annie laughed a little. “First of all, it’s August. I doubt the skiing is any good. And second of all, I think we need to deal with this. One way or another we’ll have to address this, out in the open.”

Jeff sighed heavily. “You’re right. I mean, of course you’re right, you’re Annie Edison.” He smiled at her. “So, how should we do this? Want me to give one of my Winger Speeches about the importance of letting us follow our hearts? Or maybe you could use your doe eyes on everyone?”

Annie laughed again. “Well, I was thinking we could just go in there and be honest about it. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t been dancing around this for years now. We just decided to stop dancing and be open.”

Jeff sat for a moment. “This is gonna suck, isn’t it? We’re gonna get yelled at, aren’t we?”

“Yup. But hey, at least we’re getting yelled at together.” Annie stood up, turning to walk back to the apartment. Jeff followed suit, and the two of them walked back together. 

Standing outside the apartment door, they looked at each other, Annie’s face fixed and determined, if still a bit red and puffy from crying; Jeff’s uncharacteristically trepidatious. Jeff reached to open the door, and as he did, Annie grabbed his other hand, causing him to turn and look at her. 

“Together?” He asked her.

“Together.” She nodded.

The two walked into the apartment to find Britta, Shirley, and Troy still seated at the table. Britta’s anger is still on her face, while Shirley and Troy both look confused and concerned. All three looked to see Jeff and Annie enter. When Britta noticed the pair holding hands, she opened her mouth to speak.

Before she could, Annie began to explain the situation. “As I’m sure you three can tell, Jeff and I have decided to move past being just friends. It’s something we’ve both thought about a lot, and we both realized this is what we want. Both of us. And…" She took a deep breath. "We'd like it if you could at least be understanding, if not supportive."

Britta, Shirley, and Troy sat in silence for a moment before Troy spoke. "Hey, you two seem like you make each other happy, so as long as things don't get weird, I don't have a problem." He stood up and moved to hug Jeff and Annie. "Of course, if you hurt her, Jeff, I will have to kick your ass."

Jeff laughed and hugged Troy back. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

As Troy retook his seat, Shirley let out a sigh. "Well, you two have spent a long time making googly eyes at each other, I guess this was going to happen eventually." Shirley stood up to hug the two. 

As Shirley turned to sit back down, Britta stood up herself. Standing at the table briefly, she turned and stormed off to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Jeff followed after her, finding her standing in her bedroom, clenching and unclenching her fists. 

"What the hell, Jeff?! You're 'dating' Annie now? And you just expect us to be okay with that?" Her voice was a low hiss. "She's half your age, for fuck's sake!"

Jeff stood there, his back against the wall. "First off, Annie's not a child. She's an adult, and she can make her own decisions. Second, no, I don't expect you to be okay with it, I expect you to accept it. I don't know if you're worried about me still being the same guy I was when we hooked up, but I'm not that guy anymore."

Britta shot daggers at Jeff before letting her face soften as she sat on the bed. "And what if she wants to travel the world or take a job across the country? Are you going to let her?"

"If that's what she wants, then yeah. As much as it would suck, I'm not going to keep her from living her life. But I love her, damn it, and if I can be a part of that life, I'm going to."

Britta's face lit up in surprise. "You love her, huh?"

"Yeah, I do." Jeff took a seat next to Britta. "I mean, I've never thought this would be how I'd admit it, but yeah, I really do love her."

“Ha! Never thought I’d hear Jeff Winger say that about a woman. And we almost got married. Twice.” Britta chuckled softly. “I guess I should have seen this coming. You two were always spending a lot of time together. And if you make each other happy, who am I to stop you?” Britta looked at Jeff sternly. “But if you hurt her…”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Troy’s already got you covered on that one.” Jeff looked back at Britta. “I really do appreciate you being understanding about this.”

“Hey, I don’t know that I’m okay with it, but I guess I’m going to have to learn to be.”

“Thank you.” Jeff hugged Britta. “Now, we should get back out there.” Jeff stood up and walked towards the door. As he reached to open it, he realized that he hadn’t fully shut the door when he’d entered. A brief wave of panic washed over him as he stepped back into the living room, Britta right behind him. “So, uh, how much of that did you guys hear?”

“No-thing” Shirley chimed.

“Yeah, we didn’t hear anything,” Troy added. 

Choosing not to challenge the obvious lies, Jeff took his seat again. As he sat down, Annie slipped her hand into his and interlaced her fingers with his.

The group chatted for a while until Shirley announced that it was time for her to head home, as she had church in the morning and needed to make sure her father had taken his nightly medication. After Britta walked her out to her car and returned, Troy asked a seemingly innocent question. “So, Annie, where were you going to stay for the night?”

“Oh, I guess I forgot that I wouldn’t have my old bedroom anymore...” With Troy back from his trip, and Britta having taken over her old bedroom, Annie realized she’d have to figure out her sleeping arrangements.

“Well,” Britta chimed in, “you could sleep on the couch, but then you’d be ‘a coucher’!” Britta spoke the last two words in an impression that, while intended to be Jerry Seinfeld, sounded more like the brother from _Everybody Loves Raymond._

Jeff gave Britta a quizzical look. “Was that your Seinfeld?”

“It was supposed to be Abed. You know, ‘She sleeps on the couch! She’s a coucher!’” Britta again did her awful impression.

Jeff briefly opened his mouth to make a snide remark before thinking better of it. “Okay then. Well, Annie, if you’d like, you can stay at my place tonight.” 

Troy and Britta both looked at Jeff, eyebrows raised. Before either could comment on the offer, Annie spoke. “Aren’t you worried that might be moving a _bit_ fast, Jeff? I mean, we just decided to try this out tonight, and you’re already asking me to sleep over?” A grin began to grow on her face. 

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Jeff stammered, realizing how his offer sounded.

“I mean, what kind of girl do you think I am?” Annie continued.

“I mean, you could have my bed and I’d sleep on the couch!”

“And what would Shirley say if she found out?” The last few words came out half laughed, Britta and Troy beginning to crack up as well.

“You-!” Jeff realized Annie was messing with him. “Fine, maybe I’ll let you be a coucher tonight then!” He did his best not to sound flustered.

“Oh come on Jeff!” Annie retorted. “You have to realize how that offer sounded.” She squeezed his hand. “It is very sweet of you, though, and as long as Troy and Britta don’t mind, I think I’ll take you up on it.” She smiled at him sweetly, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

Troy took a deep breath to regain his composure. “Hey, you guys do what you’re gonna do, I’m not gonna stop you.”

“Well, I guess I have been kind of a jerk to you two tonight, so I’m not going to say anything,” Britta added, doing her best to smile.

Jeff and Annie got up to leave, hugging Troy and Britta goodbye before they made their way down to Jeff’s car. Jeff opened the passenger door for Annie before making his way around the car and climbing into the driver’s seat. On the way to Jeff’s apartment, the two spoke little. When they arrived, Jeff opened the car door for Annie before grabbing her bags from the trunk of his car.

As they entered his apartment, Jeff set Annie’s bags down by the door. “You remember where the bathroom is, right?”

Annie nodded, yawning, and headed into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Jeff flopped down on his couch and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels before eventually settling on The Jeffersons. After a while, Annie exited the bedroom wearing a pair of flannel pants and a teal t-shirt and made her way into the bathroom. “You can use my toothpaste if you want. It’s a specialty brand from Monaco. It tastes like lavender mint,” Jeff called after her.

With Annie in the bathroom, Jeff went into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of black Armani sweatpants and a t-shirt, changing clothes before grabbing a pillow and a spare blanket. Heading back into the living room, he set up his makeshift bed.

“Bathroom’s all yours, Jeff,” Annie called as she walked back to the bedroom.

Heading into the bathroom, Jeff found that Annie had already set up her toiletries, having organized them into neat little groupings. Jeff went through his nightly ritual of brushing his teeth, using mouth rinse, exfoliating with an activated charcoal scrub, and finally moisturizing with his Armani Crema Nera Extrema cream before heading back into the living room. 

As he moved to go lie down, he noticed Annie standing in the doorway to the bedroom. “You don’t have to sleep on the couch if you don’t want to. I think your bed is big enough for both of us.” Her voice was lower, and she had an almost predatory look in her eye. “But don’t get any ideas. I was serious about not being that kind of girl.” She turned and went into the bedroom, flopping down on the bed.

Jeff grabbed his pillow and blanket and followed after her. He crawled into bed next to her, rolling over onto his side. Annie pressed her body against his, snuggling in close as Jeff wrapped one arm around her stomach, the other tucked under his pillow. 

For the first time in a very long time, Jeff found himself lying in bed next to a woman he had neither just had sex with, nor was trying to have sex with immediately. Annie’s breathing began to slow as she drifted off to sleep, and Jeff found himself doing the same, the warmth of her body helping to relax him.


	2. She Lit a Fire...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff and Annie spend the day together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! It's a bit more focused, character wise, than chapter 1. I hope you all enjoy it! Again, I greatly appreciate any and all feedback!

Jeff awoke the next morning to find himself alone in bed. As he wondered if he’d dreamt the entire previous day, Annie walked in holding two mugs. 

“I made coffee, hope you don’t mind. You take yours black, right?” She handed him one of the mugs.

Jeff sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, taking a sip out of his mug as he did. “Thanks,” Jeff groaned, a bit groggy. “What time is it?” 

“Just after 8!” Annie was already dressed, wearing a pair of dark slacks and a purple and red floral blouse, despite it being Sunday.

“Jesus, Annie!” Jeff groaned again as he stood up. “Do you always get up this early?”

“Only on the weekends.” She walked back into the living room, Jeff shuffling along behind her. “I usually try to be up by 630 during the week!”

Jeff rolled his eyes, smiling slightly. “I’d forgotten just how type-A you were, Annie.”

“We can’t all put everything off to the last minute, Jeff!” Annie sat down on Jeff’s couch. “Some of us like to get things done ahead of time.”

Jeff shuffled into the kitchen and opened the fridge, noting just how empty it was. He grabbed two hard-boiled eggs and peeled them. “I don’t see why not. It’s worked for me this long.”

“Well, with any luck, I’ll rub off on you a bit.” Annie looked over her shoulder at Jeff.

“Okay, but let me shower first.” Jeff grinned.

“Oh, gross! That is  _ not _ what I meant!” Annie did her best to sound offended, but couldn’t help smiling slightly. “Though you should take a shower. I hope you don’t mind, I left a few of my things in the bathroom last night.”

Jeff grunted an acknowledgment as he went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. While he waited for the water to heat up, he noticed that Annie had hung up her bathrobe on the back of the door and left her dirty clothes in a neat little pile in the corner. Both of these things stood out to Jeff, their bright colors serving as a sharp contrast to the neutral grays of the rest of the bathroom.

As steam began to fill the room, Jeff laid down a towel on the floor and did an abbreviated version of his morning workout, cranking out push-ups and crunches in alternating sets. His exercise completed, Jeff stripped down and hopped in the shower. As he meticulously cleaned himself, Jeff noticed a handful of new bottles on the shelf in the shower, most notably a bottle of Dove Rejuvenating Body Wash with Pomegranate and Hibiscus Tea. 

Finishing up in the shower, Jeff climbed out and grabbed a towel, drying himself off. Wiping condensation from the mirror, Jeff carefully trimmed his beard, making sure to give the appearance of being slightly unkempt before doing the same with his hair.

Wrapping his towel around his waist, Jeff exited the bathroom and made his way to his bedroom, taking note of how Annie watched him as he did. In his bedroom, he grabbed out a pair of boxer-briefs, a t-shirt, socks, dark blue jeans, and a grey-green button-down shirt. After he was finished getting dressed, Jeff turned back towards the living room, just barely catching Annie turning her head so as to not look like she was watching him.

“Enjoy the view?” Jeff smirked.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Annie smiled coyly. 

“Sure you don’t.” Jeff drew out the word sure. “I was going to run some errands at the mall today, if you want to come. I know it’s not exactly the most exciting first date, but I was thinking it might be a nice way to spend the day.” 

“That sounds like a perfectly nice day. Though I’m not sure I’d settle on it being our first date,” Annie replied. “Of course, if you take me out to a nice dinner after, I might be willing to count it.”

Jeff and Annie both got their shoes on and headed out the door. As they walked down the hall, Dean Pelton stepped out of his apartment, laundry basket tucked under one arm. “Jeffrey! You’re up early for a Sunday! And Annie! When did you come over? I didn’t hear you go past my door!”

“Oh, um, hi Dean Pelton. I came over a little bit ago and um…” Annie fumbled for her words, nervously looking at Jeff.

“Craig, so nice to see you. Annie and I had plans to go run some errands today, so she came over so we could get an early start. You must not have heard her come by because she’s very light on her feet. Also, why are you listening to who walks past your apartment?” Jeff rattled off this series of answers and the question in a slightly annoyed monotone.

“Well, Jeffrey,” Dean Pelton did his best to sound offended, “I just like to know about the comings and goings around me. Especially when it comes to my next-door neighbor slash best friend.”

“I’m not your-” Jeff began to respond.

“But, since you and Miss Edison seem to be in a hurry, I guess we’ll just have to catch up some other time.” The Dean walked off towards the laundry room.

Once the Dean was out of sight, Annie began to panic slightly. “Do you think he saw me come in with you last night? And what if he notices my car isn’t in the parking lot?”

“Relax, Annie. If he  _ had _ noticed something, he probably would’ve said something about it. And if he asks about your car, just tell him Britta dropped you off. I don’t like that he’s calling me his best friend, though. No one else thinks that, right?”

Annie ignored Jeff’s question, focusing on her own worries. “What if he gets suspicious? You could get in trouble and lose your job!”

Jeff stopped, holding Annie by the shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. Craig loves me, he’d never fire me. And we’re going to talk to him about all of this tomorrow, anyway.” Jeff offered Annie his arm as they walked down the stairs towards the parking lot.

Once they were in Jeff’s car, Annie began to fiddle with the radio, first putting on NPR, and when Jeff groaned at that, changed it to 105.9. As she began to sing along to the Walk the Moon song playing, Jeff rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help smiling, enamored with the bouncy half dance she did as she sang.

Once they were at the mall, the two spent most of the day between various clothing stores, predominantly The Gap and Banana Republic. Once lunchtime rolled around, the two headed to Señor Kevin’s for lunch.

As they were being seated, the hostess gave Jeff a look. “Hey, didn’t you come in here one time and turn the lights on and off a bunch?”

“Probably,” Jeff sighed. 

After they were seated, Annie leaned across the table towards Jeff. “What was that about?”

“Do you remember a couple of years ago when Abed and Troy pretended to switch bodies?”

“Maybe? I’m not sure...” Though she did, in fact, remember the incident, Annie was still a bit embarrassed about how she’d acted when the Dean acted like he and Jeff had switched bodies as well. 

“I may have played with the light switch so they could switch back.”

Eventually, the waiter showed up and took their orders. After they finished eating, Annie mentioned wanting to go to Bed Bath & Beyond, and after some prodding, convinced Jeff that some more colorful decor would liven up his apartment. 

As they looked at new curtains for his living room, Jeff groaned, “Annie, couldn’t we at least look at something a little less girly?” Jeff waved his hand at the gauzy lavender drapes she was currently examining. “Maybe something like this?” Jeff pointed at a set of blue-grey curtains.

“Jeff! The whole point of getting you new curtains was to add some color to your apartment! Those are practically the same color as what you already have!” Despite being annoyed with Jeff’s complaining, Annie was still enjoying their day together greatly, and it showed on her face. “But, if you want, we can look at something else. How about this?” Annie shows Jeff a set of dark red curtains.

“It’s okay, I guess,” Jeff grumbled.

After picking out a new set of curtains, Annie also picked out a matching area rug and some picture frames, strongly urging Jeff to hang up some pictures of the Study Group. After paying for everything, the two of them made their way back to Jeff’s car. 

On the drive back to Jeff’s apartment, Annie was excitedly musing about her plans for redecorating. As she was discussing going through her saved pictures to find ones to hang up, Jeff cut in, “Well, don’t take too long. I made reservations for us at The Silver Dish at 7.”

Annie looked at Jeff, surprised. “When did you have time to do that? We’ve been together all day!”

“I called while you were in the bathroom at Señor Kevin’s.”

“Oh. Well, that’s very sweet of you.” Annie smiled.

When they got back to Jeff’s building, Annie hurried Jeff upstairs, and then grabbed her suitcases and sequestered herself in the bathroom. A bit confused, Jeff shrugged it off and flopped down on the couch, turning on the TV.

Around 630, Jeff went into the bedroom and changed into a slim-fit navy suit and a light grey shirt which he left open at the neck. Heading back into the living room, he knocked on the bathroom door. 

“You, uh, okay in there, Annie?” he called through the door.

“Yeah! I’ll be out in a minute,” She called back.

Jeff sat back down on the couch and pulled out his phone, playing Bejeweled to kill time. After a few more minutes, he heard the bathroom door open and turned to see Annie step out wearing a magenta dress, dark blue shawl, and black open-toed heels. She’d put her hair up in a low bun. Her lips were a deep crimson, her nails painted to match, and she’d given her eyes a slightly smokey look. Her eyelashes looked longer than normal, and were curled up gently.

“So, how do I look?” she looked at Jeff expectantly.

Jeff felt his mouth fall open slightly, and he sat silently for a moment, staring. Eventually, his brain reconnected with his mouth. “Wow. Annie, you look…” he paused, trying to find the right word, “Incredible.”

Annie blushed slightly as an enormous smile spread across her face. “Thank you! Now, don’t you think we should get going?”

Jeff shook his head sharply. “Uh, yeah, we should…”

Jeff offered Annie his arm and they walked out to his car together. Jeff opened the car door for her, and then did so again when they arrived at the restaurant. They made their way inside and walked up to the maître d’.

“Good evening! Did you have a reservation?” the maître d’ smiled cordially.

“Yes. Under ‘Winger’, party of 2,” Jeff replied.

The maître d’ showed them to a small table in the corner of the restaurant. After a few minutes, a waiter stopped by their table.

“Good evening! I’m Jerome, and I’ll be your waiter for the evening. Might I start you off with something to drink?”

“I’ll have a Macallan 12 year, neat.” The words rolled from Jeff’s mouth effortlessly.

“Excellent choice, sir. And for the lady?”

Annie gives Jeff an insistent look, and Jeff grimaced in response. “The lady will have an…” Jeff sighs “appletini.”

“Wonderful.” The waiter walked off, chuckling softly under his breath.

“Thank you, Jeff,” Annie smiled sweetly. “I know that must have been  _ so _ painful for you,” she grinned. The two perused the menu for several minutes before the waiter returned with their drinks.

“Were you ready to order, or did you need a few more minutes with the menu?” the waiter asked.

“I think we’re ready.” Jeff closed his menu and placed it on the corner of the table. “I’ll have the ribeye, medium-rare, with a side of the garlic herb asparagus, and the lady will have the herb-crusted salmon filet with a side house salad, balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side.”

“Excellent choices. If there’s anything else I can get you, please don’t hesitate to ask.” 

Annie took a sip of her appletini. “Who knew Jeff Winger could be such a gentleman?”

“Hey, you don’t work for a law firm like Hamish Hamish & Hamlin without learning how to act when you take a beautiful woman to a fancy restaurant.” Jeff swirled his scotch briefly before taking a drink. “Of course, after 6 years at Greendale, I’m surprised I still remember how.”

“Oh, come on Jeff! You act like Greendale is so terrible, but you have to admit, there are plenty of things you like there.”

“I guess you’re right. I mean, what other school would let me teach a class called Introduction to Schmoozing?”

Annie laughed despite herself. “That’s not what I meant. I mean, you’ve made some good friends there, and despite Greendale’s inherent...wackiness, you seem to always have a good time with it.”

Jeff sighed resignedly. “I guess you’re right. I mean, I have met some pretty great people. Abed, Britta, Troy, Shirley.” He took a sip of his scotch. “You.”

Annie blushed. “See? I told you there were good things about Greendale.” She smiled at him sweetly.

“Yeah, I guess.” Jeff grinned back. “You all ready for the new semester? I’m sure you’ve already got a headstart on readings for your classes and everything.”

“Oh, yeah! I’m really excited for this semester! I managed to get into Intermediate Advanced for Beginners  _ and  _ Killing!” Annie 

Jeff took a hard swallow of scotch, eyebrow cocked. “Should I be concerned about that last one?”

“That depends. Are you planning on doing anything to make me mad at you?”

Jeff laughed nervously, his eyes darting back and forth. “I wasn’t planning on it...I mean…” Jeff fumbled over his words as a grin grew on Annie’s face. “And you’re messing with me!”

“Of course I'm messing with you, Jeff! Did you really think they’d teach a class on how to kill people, even at Greendale?”

“I mean, it  _ is _ Greendale. We once managed to convince the Dean to join in on a conspiracy that involved us shooting each other with prop guns,  _ in the school _ !”

Annie rolls her eyes. “Yeah, but it’s not like anyone  _ actually  _ got shot! Anyways, it’s mostly just about different kinds of killers, why people kill, that sort of stuff.”

The two chatted for a while longer before the waiter brought them their food. “So, Jeff, have you finished your lesson plans for this semester?”

“I hadn’t really planned on making any. I mean, I’m teaching Intro to Law again, so I figure I can just wing that like last semester, Principles of Oral Arguments, so I’ll probably just make people argue with me and each other the whole time, and Constitutional Law. I figure I can get away with just playing old School House Rock episodes for that one.”

“Jeff! You can’t just keep making it up as you go!” Annie had a disappointed look on her face. “How about I help you with figuring out a lesson plan tomorrow? I don’t know that we have enough time to make a  _ good _ lesson plan for each of your classes, but I think we can at least come up with something.”

“You’re not going to let me say no either way, are you?” Jeff groaned.

“Nope!” Annie replied cheerfully.

“Can’t I just have one more semester of half-assing it? I mean, people seem to actually like taking my classes, and I don’t want to ruin that by making them have to learn!”

“C’mon, Jeff!” Annie gives him her patented doe eyes. “Do it for me?”

Jeff sighs heavily. “Fine, but only because disappointing you is like beating Snow White to death with a rusting crow bar.” He takes a sip of his scotch. “You’d think I’d be immune to your doe eyes by now.”

The two continued to chat while they ate their meal. After they finished, Annie ordered the tiramisu for dessert. Though it took some convincing, she even managed to get Jeff to have a few bites. Once everything was finished and the bill paid, Jeff and Annie made their way outside. Though it was late August, the night was unseasonably chilly, and Jeff immediately noticed Annie shivering softly. Without hesitation, he took off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close, letting his body heat help warm her. Annie nestled her head against his shoulder as they walked back to Jeff's car. 

The drive back to Jeff’s apartment was mostly spent in silence, Annie staring out the window, a subtle smile on her face. As they pulled into the parking lot and headed up to the apartment, she huddled in close to Jeff again. His arm naturally drifted to her hip as they made their way up the stairs towards his apartment. 

Once they reached his hallway, they hurried down it, moving past the Dean’s apartment quickly. Jeff pulled out his key and opened the door. As it shut behind them, Annie turned and kissed Jeff, pulling him in tight. 

When she broke away, she met his gaze with her own. “I had a really good time tonight, Jeff.” 

“Yeah. Me too.” Jeff’s heart pounded as if he’d just run a marathon. “I wish we’d decided to do this sooner.”

Annie laughed softly. “Yeah, but sometimes, things are worth waiting for.” Annie turned and started to walk towards the bedroom, throwing her shawl onto the couch and kicking off her shoes as she did. At the threshold of the bedroom, she looked over her shoulder at him. “Are you coming?” She began to slip out of her dress.

Jeff kicked off his shoes as he locked the door to his apartment and hurried after her, throwing the bedroom door shut as he entered.


	3. And Now She's In My Every Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff and Annie deal with the Dean's paperwork, and Britta and Frankie make their feelings about the relationship clear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit longer to get out, I hit some writer's block that took longer to get through than normal. As always, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy, and any feedback you may have is always welcome!

“So, I guess you’ll have a final next week, so study...or something.” Jeff was finishing up the last session of his summer class, Practical Applications of TV Law, and had barely been able to focus. "Anyone have any questions?" Jeff scanned the room. “No? Okay, well, watch some episodes of  _ Law & Order _ .”

Jeff sat at the desk at the front of the room, pulling his phone out. As he scrolled through Twitter, he heard a knock at the door. Looking up, he found Annie standing in the doorway.

“Ready to go to the Dean’s office? I don’t think we should put it off, if we don’t have to.” Her voice quavered slightly; her face, however, was set and determined.

Jeff sighed heavily, “Yeah, I guess we should go ahead and get this over with.” Jeff stood up and started walking towards the door. “Fair warning though, some of the questions on this form are a bit weird.”

The two began to make their way towards Dean Pelton’s office. As they walked, their hands brushed against each other and Jeff took hold of Annie’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. Turning the corner to the Administration Hallway, they passed Leonard.

“So, you two finally decided to make it official, huh?” Leonard called out, half-mockingly.

“Shut up, Leonard!” Jeff retorted. “I know about your Tumblr! No one cares who you think would win in a fight between Alfalfa from  _ The Little Rascals _ and an angry turkey!” Leonard blew a raspberry in response and shuffled off.

Jeff and Annie finished making their way to the Dean’s office. Jeff knocked on the door, and then immediately entered, not waiting for a response. Inside, they found Dean Pelton playing with the Jeff and Craig puppets from the Gas Leak Year at his desk. He quickly looked up, hiding the puppets under his desk. 

“Hey! Knock much?!” The Dean asked, annoyed.

“I did knock, plus you told me to drop-by any time. And I think it’s best for all of us if we pretend we didn’t see you with those puppets, Craig.” Jeff shot back, doing his best to scrub that particular image from his mind.

“Well of course you can drop by any time, Jeffrey! Though I wasn’t expecting you to bring Miss Edison…” Dean Pelton trailed off, realization dawning on his face. “Oh. Ohhhh! Let me get out the forms!” Dean Pelton began to rifle through the filing cabinet behind before pulling out a piece of paper. “Here we go! As I’m sure you’re aware, Student-Teacher relationships are very serious business, and here at Greendale, we try to handle them with the seriousness they deserve, so I have a series of questions for you to answer, and then we’ll have you on your merry way! First question: How long have you been doing it?”

Annie let out a gasp. “Dean! That’s not-”

“He means how long have we been dating.” Jeff cut in, a resigned and annoyed tone to his voice “And since Saturday.”

“Thank you, Jeffrey!” Dean Pelton wrote a few things down on his form. “Next question: How long have you been doing it?”

Annie looked at Jeff, confused, and Jeff nodded back at her. “Dean! You can’t expect us to answer that!”

Dean Pelton wrote down a few more things on his form. “Third question, and this is just a hypothetical: Might you consider spending the night with a third person?”

Annie’s eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, Jeff cut in. “Have you seriously not edited this form at all in five years, Craig?”

“I’ll have you know, Jeffrey, that I check all of Greendale’s official school forms for spelling  _ and _ punctuation yearly!” Dean Pelton scribbled a few more notes on the form. “Last question, and I hope for your sake that it goes better than last time, Jeffrey: Would you describe yourself as boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Annie looked at Jeff nervously. “You don’t have to-”

Before she could finish, Jeff cut in. “Yes, I would.” He looked over at Annie, a look of pleasant surprise on her face. “Unless you’d rather not?”

“No! I would too, I just don’t want you to feel like you have to!” Annie’s voice softened, her eyes wide and brow raised as she leaned in closer to him.

“No, this is what I want. I mean, I can’t promise I’ll be any good as a boyfriend, but I want to make this work. To make  _ us  _ work. And I’m willing to do what I need to to make that happen, even if it means making myself...uncomfortable.” Jeff’s voice wavered slightly as he spoke.

Annie looked at him, her eyes glistening. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I mean, if this is what you want.” Jeff felt uncharacteristically nervous, unaccustomed to being this emotionally vulnerable in front of others.

Dean Pelton leaned back, uncomfortable with the sudden upwelling of emotion. “Well, that’s all the questions I have for you right now…” His voice trailed off. “You know what? I’m gonna go check on...something...in the...other room.” He stood up and moved to walk out the door. “Just...um...let Nicole know when you’re done in here.” Dean Pelton gingerly closed the door behind himself, tiptoeing as if trying not to startle Jeff and Annie.

As the door shut, Annie turned and looked Jeff in the eyes. “You don’t have to do this just for me, Jeff.”

“This is what  _ I  _ want to do, Annie, and I’m willing to put in the work for it.” Jeff met her gaze. “You make me want to put in the extra work, Annie.”

Annie smiled wide. “I’ll hold you to that, Jeff. Don’t think you can sweet-talk your way out of it either.” She leaned over and kissed him on the corner of the mouth. “Now, do you want to go get lunch?”

Jeff felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out and saw a text from Britta, asking if he could talk to her in his office. “Britta wants to meet with me about something real quick, but after that?”

“Sure! What did she want to talk about?” Annie stood up and moved towards the door, Jeff following suit.

“Don’t know, she didn’t say.” Jeff shrugged as he opened the door. The two walked out into the hallway. They held hands as they made their way back towards Jeff’s office. Outside the library, Annie stopped.

“I’m gonna try and get some more pre-studying done. Want to just meet me here when you and Britta are done?” 

“Sounds like a plan. Why don’t you decide what we should do for lunch too?” Jeff turned to head to his office, but Annie grabbed his wrist before he could step away and he turned to look at her.

“Forgetting something?” Annie stood up on her toes and gave Jeff a quick peck on the lips. 

Jeff stood for a second, a bit confused. “What was that for?”

Annie giggled. “It’s called a goodbye kiss, Jeff. If you’re gonna be my boyfriend, you’re gonna have to get used to that.” Before Jeff could respond, Annie turned and walked off into the library.

Jeff shook his head, a bit confused, but couldn’t help smiling. As he turned to walk towards his office, he noticed a handful of students staring at him and whispering. He opened his mouth to speak but quickly thought better of it. 

Outside his office, he found Britta waiting. “Hey, you wanted to talk about something?”

“Yeah. I think it’s best if we do this in your office.” Britta’s voice was low and clipped. Her lips were drawn tight, and her gaze was aggressively focused on Jeff.

Jeff opened the door and gestured towards the chair in front of his desk. “Is this about me and Annie?” Jeff sat down.

“Yes. It is.” Britta sat down, glaring at Jeff. “I can’t believe you’re seriously going through with this!” Her voice began to rise. A passing student looked in the door, so Jeff got up and shut the door.

“I thought we covered this on Saturday.” Jeff sat back down and leaned back in his chair. “She and I  _ both _ want this. I don’t know if you’re pissed off because you don’t think I’m good enough for her, or you're jealous or what, but you’re going to have to accept it.” Jeff did his best to keep his voice even but he could feel himself getting annoyed.

“Really Jeff, you think I’m  _ jealous _ ?!” Britta was half yelling now. “I figured you would have realized how stupid this is, but since you haven’t, I guess I’ll have to spell it out to you: This. Is. A. Stupid. Fucking. Idea!” Britta leaned forward in her chair and gestured angrily with each word as if to punctuate each one. 

“How is this a ‘Stupid Fucking Idea’? Explain that to me, since, from what I can see, and having actually talked to Annie about it, this is what  _ we both want _ .” Jeff could barely keep the anger in his voice contained. 

“Do you honestly think Annie is going to be able to live her life if the two of you are dating? Do you think she’s going to follow her dreams and actually be successful if she’s focused on  _ you _ ?” Britta practically spat the last word at Jeff. “And don’t for a second think that I’m alone in this. I talked to Frankie and she’s just as concerned about this as I am.” By now, Britta wore her ire on her face openly.

Jeff sat in silence for a moment, his eyes locked with Britta’s. “Do you seriously think any of us, myself included, could stop Annie from doing what she wants to with her life? And even if I could, do you really think I  _ would _ ? I want her to experience as much of her life as possible, I just want to be around for it.” He could feel himself getting upset and did his best to reign his emotions in. “Hell, if there’s something she wants to do, I’ll do everything I can to make it happen!”

Britta glared at Jeff. “You really don’t get it, do you?” She shook her head as she stood up to leave. “Just try not to fuck her life up too bad.” 

“Fuck you too, I guess,” Jeff mumbled to himself. He sat at his desk for a few minutes before pulling his phone out and sending a text to Frankie asking if she could meet with him after lunch. Even though he was a bit worried about getting into another fight at work, he figured it was best to get everything out in the open instead of letting things fester.

After a short while, Jeff stood up and made his way to meet Annie in the library. He found her sitting at a table in a quiet corner of the library. Her face buried in one of her textbooks, Annie hummed “Daybreak” to herself quietly with a smile plastered on her face. As Jeff approached, she looked up at him, her smile quickly fading, replaced with concern.

“Is everything okay, Jeff? Did you and Britta get into a fight?” Her voice was soft and inquisitive.

“That obvious, huh?” Jeff pulled a chair up across from Annie. “It’s nothing to be worried about. We just have some different ideas about something.”

“Was it about me?” Annie began to pack her books up.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jeff didn’t want to outright lie, but also didn’t want to worry Annie. “Did you decide what you want for lunch?”

“I was thinking we could get Chinese.” The two headed off campus to eat, and when they returned, Annie returned to the library. Jeff checked his phone and noticed that Frankie had texted him back, telling him to stop by her office any time.

Jeff made his way to Frankie’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” He heard her call from inside. Jeff opened the door and walked inside, finding Frankie sitting at her desk. “Jeff, so nice to see you! You had something you wanted to discuss with me?”

“Yeah. Something you and Britta talked about recently.” Jeff took a seat across from Frankie. “About me and Annie.”

“Yes, Britta told me you two had started dating. I can’t say that I approve, but I also recognize that it’s not really my place to approve or not.” She shuffled some papers on her desk.

“Well, I appreciate your honesty,” Jeff replied.

“Of course, Jeff. You’re both adults. Though I hope you’ve spoken with Craig, given that Annie is still a student. I understand he has some sort of form written up for this sort of situation. Which reminds me, I should review that form.” She wrote a note down in her binder.

“Yes, you really should. And Annie and I took care of that earlier today.” Jeff leaned back. “I’ve actually dealt with a situation like this before.” 

Frankie raised an eyebrow. “You dated a different student?”

Jeff laughed. “No no. When I was a student I briefly dated a professor. It ended...poorly.” Jeff mentally debated explaining the catastrophe that was freshman year’s Transfer Dance. “There was a whole thing between me and her and Britta. She disappeared shortly after that.”

“Uh-huh.” Frankie nodded. “And I’m guessing no one’s seen her since. Well, either way, back to you and Annie. She’s a very smart girl, and I know she has quite a bit of potential, and I’m worried that a relationship between you two might lead to her not fully realizing that potential.”

Jeff sighed. “Sounds like you and Britta have pretty much the same concerns, though I will say, you are much better at expressing them than she is, so I’ll tell you the same thing I told her: I have no intention of keeping her from doing anything, I just want to be with her when she does whatever she decides to do.”

“That’s all good and well, Jeff, but are you sure she’s going to try and pursue everything she wants to if you two are involved?” Frankie’s voice was both soft and pointed.

Jeff leaned back and thought about that for a moment. “Honestly? I’m not sure of anything. I don’t know for sure that she and I will work together, but I at least want to try. And as far as her pursuing her dreams, I do know that I’ll do my best to push her to follow them, even if it means she does it without me.”

Frankie smiled cordially at Jeff. “That’s very noble of you Jeff. And I hope you know I intend to hold you to that, as best I can.”

Jeff laughed. “I don’t doubt that.” He stood up and made his way towards the door. “Thank you, by the way, for being reasonable about this.” Jeff opened the door and took a step into the hallway.

“Oh, Jeff!” Frankie called after him. “One last thing: I don’t know if you’re a particularly religious person, but there’s a special place in hell for people who ruin the futures of promising young women. Right next to the people who text in movie theaters.”

“Noted.” Jeff walked off, a bit confused by that last bit. He headed back to his office. He spent a bit attempting to grade a handful of assignments left over before giving up and texting Annie, asking if she wanted to meet him in his office. She quickly replied and a few minutes later showed up at the door.

“Hey!” Annie sat down. “How did your meeting with Frankie go?”

“It was...interesting. She brought up some good points, gave me some things to think about.” Not wanting to dwell on it at the moment, Jeff quickly changed the subject. “So, about these lesson plans you keep bringing up, what exactly do they entail? Specific episodes of  _ Planet Earth  _ for each class?” He grinned at her.

Annie rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling. “No, Jeff, it’s not specific episodes of  _ Planet Earth  _ for each class! You have to do things like plan out homework assignments and tests, have specific readings and topics for each session, figure out what you’re going to actually teach!” She pulled her chair around to the other side of Jeff’s desk so she was sitting next to him. “Here, I’ll help you. But you owe me!”

Jeff grinned. “I can think of a few ways to back you back.” He playfully poked Annie in the side before sneaking a kiss. “Though I should probably lock the door first.”

Annie slapped his bicep. “Jeff! I’m not doing  _ that _ at school! But maybe if you pay attention and work hard, when we get back to your place tonight…”

With an incentive established, Jeff and Annie set to working on creating lesson plans for Jeff’s upcoming classes. Over the next several hours, they managed to create a fairly comprehensive lesson plan for Intro to Law, as well as, as Annie called them, serviceable outlines for Principles of Oral Arguments and Constitutional Law. With a healthy amount of work completed, Jeff and Annie called it day and made their way to Jeff’s car. 

On the drive back, Jeff contemplated what Frankie had said and decided to broach the topic with Annie. “So, what are your plans for after you graduate? I know Greendale isn’t exactly the most prestigious school, but I’m sure with your internship and grades you could find a job with the crime lab in Denver, or maybe even with the FBI, if you want to.”

Annie gazed out the window. “Yeah, maybe. I’m not really sure what I want to do.”

Jeff looked over at Annie briefly, surprised, before looking back to the road. “ _ You’re _ not sure of what you want to do when you graduate? You’re Annie Edison, you plan everything ahead of time.”

Annie sighed. “I guess I just figured that there are too many variables. I mean, who knows what could happen between now and then. I just don’t want to set my heart on something and have everything change, you know?”

Jeff felt his stomach open tie itself in a knot. “You’re not saying that because of me, are you? I mean, I don’t want to keep you from doing what you want with your life.”

Annie quickly turned to look at Jeff. “No no! It’s not because of you. I just mean that so much can happen in a short period of time that it’s kind of pointless to try and make everything fit some big plan.” She grinned at him mischievously. “Did you really think that I’d let any boy, even The Great Jeff Winger, stop me from doing what I want with my life?”

Jeff laughed, the knot in his gut loosening somewhat. “I guess I should know better by now.”

The pair spent the rest of the drive chatting about Jeff’s lesson plans, Annie badgering him until he promised to follow them. As they pulled up to Jeff’s building, they met Dean Pelton, who was returning home from Greendale himself. They exchanged pleasantries as they walked up the stairs and down the hall, then politely excused themselves as they made their way into Jeff’s apartment.


	4. The Old Stars Die and The Young Stars Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff deals with a loss in his family, Annie and Britta air their grievances, and Abed comes back to town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you all for reading, and I welcome any feedback.
> 
> This chapter does feature a character, albeit a background character, dying offscreen, as well as the return of Abed.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

Annie made breakfast for her and Jeff, as she did most mornings, while Jeff talked with his half-brother on the phone. Though they’d been dating for a little over a month, they’d never actually discussed Annie’s living situation, and she’d de facto moved in with Jeff.

“Okay. Yeah, I’ll be there. Thanks, Willy.” Jeff moved his phone away from his mouth for a minute and sighed heavily. “I’m not going to...Please don’t make me say it…” He sighed again, gritting his teeth. “Love you too. Okay, I’ll see you Saturday.” Jeff hung up and set his phone down on his table, staring at it absently.

Annie set a plate of eggs down in front of Jeff, humming softly to herself. As she sat down, she noticed the look on Jeff’s face. “Is everything okay? What did Willy want to talk to you about?” Jeff continued staring at his phone for a bit longer, not having registered that Annie had said anything. “Jeff?” There was a significant amount of concern in her voice now.

“My dad died.” Jeff’s voice was flat. “I guess he had a heart attack last night. The funeral’s on Saturday.” Jeff picked his phone back up, flipping it around in his hands. “Willy wants me to say something at the service.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Annie pulled her chair next to Jeff’s, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“I think so. I mean, I was never really close with my dad. Hell, I never really liked the guy. Still…” Jeff sighed heavily. “I should call my mom and let her know.” He continued to stare at his phone for a moment before dialing his mom. “Hey, mom. It’s Jeff.” His voice was a bit unsteady. “Sorry I haven’t called in a while. Yeah, I know. I guess Dad died. The funeral’s on Saturday. I’ll see you then.” He stopped for a moment. “Love you too.” Jeff hung up the phone. 

Annie placed her hand on Jeff’s back, gently rubbing it. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine.” Jeff began to eat his eggs. “I just have to figure out what I’m gonna say.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something. You  _ are _ Jeff Winger after all.” Annie smiled at Jeff, though her eyes betrayed her concern. 

After the two finished breakfast, they headed to Greendale. Throughout the morning, Jeff coasted through teaching his classes. Despite doing his best to act like he was fine, it was apparent that the news of his father’s death had affected him. After his Constitutional Law section, Jeff sat in his office, contemplating opening the bottle of scotch he kept in his desk drawer.

As he was getting ready to head to lunch, Jeff’s phone buzzed. He looked at it and saw he had a text from Abed.

_ Hey. Heard about your dad from Annie. Funeral is on Saturday, right? _

_ Yeah.  _

_ I’ll be there. Can you pick me up from the airport? My flight gets in at 6 Thursday night. _

_ Sure. _

_ Cool. Cool Cool Cool. Thanks. _

_ No problem. And Abed? _

_ Yeah? _

_ Thanks. _

Jeff stared at his phone. Normally he’d have been happy to hear from Abed, but right now he was too preoccupied. Word must have spread of Jeff’s loss, as over the next few hours, various people stopped by his office to offer their condolences. Some, like Frankie and Shirley, offered their condolences warmly and kind-heartedly. Others, like Chang, attempted to use humor to lighten Jeff’s mood. Most were polite and brief. Dean Pelton, ever one to overdo things, gave his condolences far too affectionately while wearing a sexy mortician’s outfit, which he claimed was his sister’s. 

Conspicuously absent from the veritable cavalcade of condolers, however, was Britta. The two had barely spoken since their fight a few weeks ago, but despite this, Jeff was still shocked. After all, Britta had been the one to help him reconnect with his dad and had even been present when Jeff had finally told William Winger just how much his absence had affected him.

As he pondered if he should reach out to her, Annie showed up at his office. “Hey. Ready to head home?” Her voice was soft, and from the look in her eyes, she was worried about Jeff.

Slipping his phone into his pocket, Jeff stood up. “Oh, Yeah. I was just finishing up some grading, but I can do it tomorrow.” He forced a smile. “Unless you think it’s more important for me to stick to the lesson plan? It does say I should have these assignments back to students by tomorrow.”

Annie smiled back. “I think they’ll understand if you take an extra day or two.”

Jeff grabbed his jacket and the two walked out to Jeff’s car. 

“Jeff, is something bothering you?” Annie asked as they drove home.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Jeff did his best to hide the fact that Britta hadn’t contacted him was weighing on him as heavily as it was, but as usual, he had difficulty masking his emotions from Annie.

“Seriously Jeff, you can talk to me. I want you to be open with me.” Annie gently rested her hand on his arm. To help convince him to open up, she gave Jeff her patented doe eyes.

Jeff sighed. He’d told himself that he was going to put effort into being a good boyfriend, and until now, it hadn’t  _ actually _ required much effort. Still, he knew he should be honest with Annie. “Well, A few weeks ago Britta and I got into a fight, and we haven’t spoken since. It’s not really a big deal, but I’m just a little surprised she hasn’t at least sent me a text.”

“Oh. What did you guys get into a fight about?” Annie was a bit surprised that it had been so long since Jeff and Britta had spoken. 

“Us. You and me. We kinda got into pretty bad.” Jeff sighed again. “But don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.” Annie gave Jeff a reassuring smile.

* * *

The next day, Annie waited in Study Room F. She’d asked Britta to meet her, but hadn’t told her why, worried that if she had, Britta wouldn’t show up. Given that she was already twenty minutes late, Annie was starting to worry she wouldn’t show up either way. Already livid, Britta’s tardiness only served to stoke Annie’s ire.

Just as Annie was about to leave, figuring that Britta wasn’t going to show up, she walked in.

“Hey, you wanted to talk to me about something?” Britta sounded mildly annoyed.

“Yeah. What the hell happened between you and Jeff? I mean, his dad dies and you don’t bother to even send him a text?” Annie’s voice rose, despite her best efforts.

Britta was taken aback. “We got into a fight about something. I probably should have said something about his dad, but it’s really not something you need to worry about.”

“Jeff and I are dating, if something bothers him, it’s something for me to worry about. And you didn’t get into a fight about ‘something’!” Annie punched the last word at Britta. “You got into a fight about  _ us _ ! Seriously, what is your problem with us? I mean, are you pissed that Jeff is actually making an effort with me when he wasn’t with you? Or are you just pissed off that you don’t have him to fall back on when you’re too scared to deal with something real?” Despite her best efforts, Annie could feel the venom in her words.

“Annie!” Britta was shocked at Annie’s tone. “Yes, Jeff and I got into a fight about your relationship. But it’s only because I’m concerned about you! I’m worried that you and Jeff dating might keep you from doing what you want with your life, and I don’t want you to hold yourself back just because of some guy!” 

“That’s a load of shit and you know it! If you’re concerned about me, why didn’t you, I don’t know, TALK TO ME ABOUT IT?” Annie was practically yelling now, and students in the library had started to look in on them. 

Britta grasped for the right words. “I didn’t talk to you because I didn’t want to upset you.” Her voice was low. “I thought maybe if I talked to Jeff, he’d see reason.”

“Really? You didn’t want to  _ upset _ me? so instead, you go behind my back, get into fights with my  _ boyfriend _ , and try to convince him to break up with me, because you think it’s more  _ reasonable _ ?!” Annie had managed to reign her voice in, but her anger seeped out of every word she said. “I know you’re not stupid, despite how you act sometimes, so maybe there’s something I’m missing here, because otherwise, this is one of the dumbest things you’ve ever thought up!”

Britta gasped. Annie’s words had certainly cut deep, and she did her best to hide that. “Annie! I…” Her voice began to tremble a bit. “I just didn’t want you to end up stuck on some guy when you’re so young. I mean, Jeff’s a great guy, but don’t you worry that he might want to settle down before you’re ready?”

Annie, having finally noticed the group that had gathered outside the study room, walked over and closed the doors. Taking a seat at the table, she looked at Britta. “Sometimes. And sometimes I worry that I’ll be ready to settle down before him. I worry about a lot of things. But I know that regardless of what happens, I love Jeff, and he loves me. So I’m willing to make it work, whatever it takes.”

Britta took a seat as well. “I guess I should have listened to Jeff, huh?”

Annie laughed. “Yeah. But don’t worry, I won’t tell him you said that.” She smiled across the table at Britta. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

“I appreciate that. And I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about my concerns.” Britta took a deep breath. “I guess I should have learned not to get involved in your love life after Vaughn, huh?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but yeah. Also, please tell me you’re going to be at Jeff’s dad’s funeral on Saturday? I know it’d mean a lot to him.”

“Of course I’ll be there! I guess I should text Jeff and let him know, huh?” Britta looked at the group gathered outside the study room. “Looks like we attracted an audience.”

Annie looked over her shoulder. “Yeah. Guess we have a habit of making a spectacle in this study room, huh?” 

“You can say that again.” Britta laughed. 

The two chatted for a while until the crowd outside dispersed. Both got up to leave, hugging briefly before they parted ways.

* * *

Jeff and Annie waited at baggage claim for Abed. It was just over a month ago that Jeff had met Annie at the same airport, and thought it was for different reasons, he felt just as nervous. 

When they noticed Abed walking towards them, Annie ran up and gave him a fierce hug. “Abed! I missed you! How’s LA?”

“It’s...different.” Abed’s tone was characteristically monotone. “Everyone’s always talking about things, but no one ever seems to really say much. On the plus side, people get all my pop culture references there, which is nice. How have things been here?”

“Well…” Annie looked at Jeff briefly before grabbing his hand. “Jeff and I are dating.”

Abed cocked his head to one side for a second before smiling briefly. “Cool. Cool cool cool. How long?”

Annie began to explain everything that had happened since she’d gotten back from her internship to Abed as the three of them grabbed Abed’s bags and made their way to Jeff’s car and then to Troy and Britta’s apartment. 

Abed climbed out of the car and grabbed his bag from the trunk. “I’m happy for you two. I always kind of figured you’d end up together. I’m just a bit surprised it took so long.” 

Jeff stepped out of the car. “You need any help getting your stuff upstairs?”

Abed looks over his shoulder at the apartment building. “No, I should be fine.” He turned to walk inside, turning back to Jeff after a step. “I think I might stay in town for a while. The showrunner said I could work remotely for a while.”

Jeff smiled at Abed before giving him a hug before climbing back into his car. “It’s good to have you around, Abed. I missed you.”

* * *

On Saturday, the study group, along with Dean Pelton, Chang, Duncan, and Frankie, gathered at Troy, Abed, and Britta’s apartment, Abed having moved back in for the time being. From there, they headed to Hickey Funeral Home. Jeff made his appearances with family, trying and failing to dodge an awkward, sobbing hug from Willy Jr. Once everyone had arrived and people were seated, the service started. Jeff’s mom, Doreen, said a few words before Willy delivered a tearful, awkward eulogy. Finally, Jeff’s turn to say something about his father came. 

He made his way to the lectern at the front of the room. Looking out at the gathered mourners, Jeff realized how few people had shown up for his father’s funeral. “William Winger Senior is- _ was _ my father.” He paused for a moment, realizing that the eulogy he’d prepared was almost insultingly artificial. “Of course, he wasn’t present for much of my life. He and my mom got divorced when I was young, and I didn’t see him again until a few years ago. And that...That broke me. It made me into someone I hated. It made me into someone who cared more about what other people thought about me than what I thought of myself. It made me into the kind of person who would lie about having a Bachelor’s degree, would cheat on his LSATs, fake his way through law school, and become a sleazy lawyer who was more worried about what  _ he  _ could get out of something than what was right, or even ethical.

“And honestly, I’m glad that that happened. Not because I’m happy about the things I did. Not because I  _ like _ that I did those things. But because me being broken meant I got to end up at Greendale Community College. You see, Greendale is a place that takes you as you are. It’s a place that gives broken people like me somewhere to learn to put themselves back together. To build themself back up better. And even more than that, at Greendale, I got to meet a new family. People that loved me not just despite my flaws and brokenness, but  _ because  _ of it. People that help push me to be better than I was. And for all of that, I have William Winger to thank. So, yeah, he might not have been the best father. Hell, he might not have even been much of a father at all, really. But he is the reason I am the man I am today, so Dad,” Jeff stopped and turned to look at the casket. “Thank you.”

As Jeff returned to his seat, Annie placed her hand in his, gently squeezing it. The service went by fairly quickly after Jeff’s speech. Everyone viewed the body before slowly filtering out of the funeral home. Though no reception was officially planned, the group from Greendale, with the addition of Willy Jr, all headed to Troy, Abed, and Britta’s apartment after the service.

As everyone else began to socialize, Jeff sequestered himself in the kitchen, pouring himself a drink. After a bit, Britta came into the kitchen. “Hey, you just gonna camp out in here all night? We’re all here for you, you know.”

Jeff snorted into his drink. “I’ll go make an appearance in a bit. Just need a few minutes to myself.”

“Okay. Oh, and I’m sorry about yelling at you about Annie. She pointed some things out to me, and I realize I may have been out of line.” Britta turned to walk back into the other room. 

“Thanks, Britta. That means a lot.” Jeff finished his drink and then went to join the others in the other room. The group was discussing playing Yahtzee and ordering pizza, much to Abed’s objections. Jeff took a seat between Annie and Abed. 

Annie rested her hand on Jeff’s arm. “What were you and Britta talking about? Did you guys get in another fight?” She leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“She actually apologized for our last fight. She mentioned you set her straight. So thank you for that.” Jeff took Annie’s hand in his, gently squeezing it.

The rest of the night went by fairly quickly, with Abed and Troy splitting off to catch up early on. Eventually, Britta and Willy Jr moved off by themselves. As the night wore on, the rest of the group headed home. Shirley gave Dean Pelton, Chang, and Duncan rides home, since both Chang and Duncan had drunk quite a bit that evening. 

Back at Jeff and Annie’s apartment, Jeff poured himself a glass of scotch as Annie got ready for bed. Lost in thought, Jeff failed to notice Annie come out of the bathroom. Noticing the look on his face, Annie went to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Are you okay?” Her tone was a combination of concern and sympathy.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about life. You should go to bed, I’ll be in in a bit.” Jeff kept looking at his drink.

“Okay. Don’t be up too late.” Annie kissed Jeff on the cheek and turned to walk into the bedroom.

“Oh, and Annie?” Jeff set his drink down as Annie turned back to look at him. “I love you. And before you say anything, we don’t have to make a big deal out of this.”

Annie smiled at Jeff. “I love you too.” 

Jeff smiled to himself as he watched Annie walk into the bedroom.


	5. Wayfarin’ Strangers and All Kinds of Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A snowstorm comes to Greendale, and the study group goes on a ski trip to take advantage. A freak blizzard and an old foe throw a wrench into everyone's weekend plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you all for reading! 
> 
> Again, any feedback you may have for me is greatly appreciated!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

For the first time in many years, it had begun to snow in Greendale and to take advantage of the meteorological oddity, the Study Group, with the exception of Shirley, who had to look after her kids, and the addition of Willy Jr, had decided to go on a ski trip. The Thursday before they were set to leave, Jeff was in his office, waiting for Annie to finish her classes so they could head home when he heard a knock at the door. Before he could get up to answer, Dean Pelton burst in wearing a dirndl and Tyrolean hat.

“Is there something I can help you with, Craig?” Jeff opened a drawer in his desk, searching for his bottle of scotch, before remembering that he’d gotten rid of it for Annie.

“I heard you and your friends were going on a ski trip, and I thought that would be a great idea for the Ski Trip Club!” 

“Ski Trip Club? Since when was that a thing?” Jeff looked down at his phone and saw he had a text from his half-brother.

“Oh, um, about two days…” Dean Pelton hid his face behind his hand. “We were thinking of going to Mount Fenteducul.”

“Uh-huh. And this has nothing to do with the fact that the Study Group and I were going on a ski trip to Mount Fenteducul?” Jeff raised his eyebrow.

“Of course not, Jeffrey! A student approached me about forming a Ski Trip Club, and I was more than happy to oblige. And to serve as faculty advisor!” Dean Pelton laughed awkwardly.

“Sure. And just who was this student? And who are the other members of the group?” Jeff’s tone began to take on a harsher edge.

“Well, um…” Dean Pelton scrambled to think of students. “There’s Leonard. And Neil. Oh, and Vicki, Garrett, and Todd. Kim expressed some interest. You know Kim, right? And there was…” He trailed off as he turned and walked out the door, almost running into Annie.

“Hi, Dean Pelton!” Annie called after him before turning to Jeff. “What was that about?”

“I guess Craig  _ really _ wanted to come on our ski trip, so he created a Ski Trip Club.” Jeff stood up and grabbed his coat. “So it looks like we’re going to have some company this weekend.”

“Oh? Did the Dean say who was in Ski Trip Club?” Annie took Jeff’s hand as they walked out to the car.

“Yeah. He mentioned a few people. Do you know a Kim?” 

Annie gave Jeff a mildly irritated look. “Yes. And so do you. Kim was that weird guy who was really upset that you didn’t remember who he was. He left a note in your locker and everything.”

Jeff looked at Annie, mildly befuddled. “Doesn’t ring any bells.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Seriously Jeff? You went through a whole thing with this. It was when you found out students had lockers. Third year. You even apologized to his locker and everything, thinking it was a woman you had wronged, and I got annoyed when it turned out to be a guy. You don’t remember any of this?”

Jeff shrugged. “Nope. Must not have been that big of a deal.” The two continued to argue about the issue as they headed back to their apartment. 

In the three months she’d been living there, Annie had made her mark on the residence. Where the walls had previously been either barren or had perfunctory, impersonal pictures adorning them, they were now decorated with pictures of Jeff and his friends, and even a few of Jeff and Willy Jr. Annie had also managed to convince Jeff to allow more color into the apartment, having hung the drapes they’d bought on the day of their first date. Despite himself, Jeff had accepted that these accouterments had made his apartment feel much warmer and more welcoming. The one thing Jeff had, however, held firm on was not allowing Annie to decorate the bed with her many stuffed animals, or “stuffies”, as she called them, instead relegating them to the top of the dresser that she had moved in next to his.

The next morning, as Jeff finished packing their bags for the trip, Annie had sequestered herself in the bathroom. After almost an hour, Jeff knocked on the door. “Annie? You’ve been in there a while. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Annie called through the door hoarsely. “I’m fine.” Despite her claim, Jeff was a bit worried. 

Once everything was packed and ready, Jeff sat down on the couch and began to putz around on his phone. A few minutes later, Annie came out of the bathroom, her eyes a bit bloodshot and her face pale. Despite her pallor, her voice was characteristically chipper. “Ready to go?”

Jeff gave her a concerned look. “Are you  _ sure  _ you’re okay?”

Annie smiled and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Jeff, I’m sure I’m fine. I think I just ate something that didn’t agree with me.”

“Okay,” Jeff responded, unconvinced. “You’re not pregnant, are you?” He joked, attempting to lighten the mood a bit.

Annie laughed. “No, I’m not pregnant, Jeff. Now, don’t we have to pick up your Abed, Britta, Troy, and Willy?”

They made their way to Jeff’s car and then to pick their friends. Though it was tight with the six of them all crammed into Jeff’s car, the trip to the resort was still an enjoyable experience. Willy and Britta, who had been spending a significant amount of time together since his and Jeff’s father’s funeral, spent much of the ride flirting awkwardly, while Abed mused about whether he could get away with doing an homage to The Shining. 

Jeff slowed the car to a stop as they pulled up to the resort, a low, Brutalist structure, more resembling a rocky outcropping than a hotel. “Mount Fenteducul Hostel and Ski Cooperative?” Jeff looked over his shoulder at Britta. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you pick where we were going.”

“C’mon, it won’t be that bad. We’ll pretty much have the whole place to ourselves! And it was super cheap, too!” Britta did her best to sound excited. 

“What do you mean ‘we’ll pretty much have the whole place to ourselves’, Britta?” Annie’s tone was curt and pointed.

“I mean, except for the Ski Trip Club, there’s really only the caretaker, as far as staff goes. It’ll be great, guys!” Britta pleaded optimistically.

Troy sighed heavily. “So what I’m hearing, Britta, is that we are going to be expected to do work on this vacation.”

“Just some little things, like cooking and laundry! It’ll still be a fun time!” Britta had begun to sound nervous.

“Guys!” Willy Jr spoke up. “I’m sure this will still be fun! Britta put a lot of work into planning this for all of us!”

Britta smiled at Willy Jr, placing her hand on his thigh. “Thank you! At least one Winger knows how to show appreciation!”

Jeff rolled his eyes as he exited the car, grabbing his bag from the trunk. The rest of the group followed suit. As they made their way into the building, a van, emblazoned with the Greendale logo and motto “ _ E Pluribus Anus _ ”, pulled up beside Jeff’s Lexus and Dean Pelton and the rest of the Ski Trip Club piled out.

Inside, the group found that, despite the bunker-esque exterior of the building, the inside was, while by no means opulent, still cozy and inviting. Jeff approached the front desk and rang the bell. After a minute or so, a stocky man with a thin horseshoe mustache, bushy sideburns, and a thinning hair, styled in a Caesar cut came out of a small office.

“Are ye Perry or Greendale?” The man spoke with a thick accent that none of the group could place.

“Umm, Perry…” Jeff answered hesitantly.

“I’m the caretaker, Lerpten. Just ye and one other group, so ye pretty much have run of th’place, more or less. Only rule I really got is don’t get to burnin’ nothin’ down. Other’n that, I keep th’kitchen more or less stocked with everything ye’ll need, just make sure ye clean up after yerselves. Elseways, I’m going inna town tonight and I’ll be back in th’mornin’, so if ye need anythin’, let me know.” The man handed Jeff a handful of keys and pointed down the hall. "Yer ruums are down th’hall."

“Uhh, thanks, I guess.” Jeff was baffled by what he had just experienced. The group turned and walked down the hall. “Did he say his name was  _ Lerpten _ ?”

“I think so?” Troy replied.

Jeff handed out keys to everyone. Troy and Abed took a room with bunk beds, while Willy Jr and Britta selected adjacent rooms. Annie and Jeff took the room at the far end of the hall. Once everyone was settled, they met back up in the hall and headed to the common area. 

At the far end of the hall, they found a fairly spacious room furnished with a handful of large, high-backed leather chairs, a matching sofa, and a loveseat with pastel floral upholstery. The wall opposite the door featured a large, industrial fireplace, and along one wall was a foosball table.

The Ski Trip Club was already present. Garrett and Kim were playing foosball against Leonard and Todd, while Vicki and Neil chatted on the couch. As the group entered the room, Dean Pelton came up to them.

“Jeffrey! So nice to see you! How was your drive?” The Dean placed his hand on Jeff’s arm, which Jeff quickly shrugged off.

“It was fine. How was yours?” Jeff replied, perfunctorily. 

“It was okay. Kim wanted to listen to Dave Matthews the whole way up though.” Dean Pelton replied with mild disgust. 

“I didn’t know Kim was a fan of Dave.” Jeff looked over at Annie, the mention of Dave Matthews reminding them both of something, though neither was sure exactly what. Annie looked back, slightly confused and concerned.

“I guess so.” The Dean shrugged. Before he could follow up with anything, Jeff walked over to the loveseat with Annie. Britta and Willy Jr went off to chat in the corner while Troy and Abed watched the game of foosball, asking to play the winner. A little over an hour after they arrived, Lerpten the caretaker let them know he was leaving to head into town. Shortly thereafter, it began to snow heavily. 

The two groups spent the next few hours chatting, playing foosball, and even a few rounds of  _ The Ears Have It _ before making dinner. After they’d eaten, the group returned to the common room, where they returned to their previous leisure activities. Though Jeff attempted to strike up a conversation with Kim about Dave Matthews several times, he was blown off each time. Eventually, people began to head back to their rooms for the night. Britta and Willy Jr left together, with Willy shooting Jeff an excited thumbs up as they left the common area. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the group headed off to sleep as well.

When Jeff awoke the next morning, the snowstorm outside had intensified to whiteout conditions. Lerpten the Caretaker hadn’t returned yet either. As he got dressed, he found Annie was already awake and dressed. On the bedside table, he found a small folded piece of paper with a quarter taped to the outside.

“Hey, is this you?” Jeff pointed at the paper and coin.

“No. I thought you put it there.” Annie gave Jeff a baffled look. “What does it say?”

Jeff picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. “‘You thought I was gone, but you were wrong. You’ve got your ball, you’ve got your chain. Looks like you finally got a room. I can’t wait to drop all my change down your butts. I’m the king of the castle, I am a humble monkey. You thought you could forget about me, but you couldn’t and now it’s time for you to pay. Just remember, you pay for what you get.” It’s signed ‘ACB’.” Jeff looked at Annie as a worried look spread across his face.

“It can’t be!” Annie snatched the paper from Jeff’s hand. “Why would they be here?”

“I don’t know. But we have to warn the others.” Jeff turned to leave the room.

As he reached for the door, Annie grabbed his other arm. “Wait. If this message was left for us last night, that means the Ass Crack Bandit is someone on this trip. And if we tell everyone, they’ll know we’re on to them.”

Jeff turned and looked at Annie as the realization hit him. “You’re right.” He sat down on the bed. “Still, we can probably eliminate a few people as suspects, right? I mean, Willy’s probably not our guy.”

“Yeah, and since Troy, Garrett, and Vicki all got cracked, they’re probably not either.” Annie looked at Jeff. “Dean Pelton doesn’t seem like a Dave Matthews fan…”

“That just leaves you, me, Britta, Abed, Craig, Leonard, Neil, and Kim.” Jeff gave Annie a roguish smile. “You’d tell me if you were the Ass Crack Bandit, right?”

Annie barked out a laugh. “Shyeah. Oh yeah. I’m totally the Ass Crack Bandit! Ha! You got me! Of course I’m not, Jeff. Me, the Ass Crack Bandit! Crazy! As if  _ I  _ could be the Ass Crack Bandit. Are you sure  _ you’re _ not the Ass Crack Bandit?”

Jeff eyed Annie suspiciously. “I assure you, Annie, I am not the Ass Crack Bandit. First of all, do you really see me putting that much effort into something like that? And second of all, we were together the entire time, last time the Bandit was active.” He leaned back against the wall. “As for the rest, I get the feeling that, if it was Leonard, he wouldn’t hide it. The man’s not exactly big on subtlety.”

“And I don’t see Abed doing something like this unless Troy was in on it.” Annie looked down at the note in her hands again. “I say we hold onto this for now and keep an eye on everyone. Whoever it is will have to slip up, right? Especially with so few of us in such a confined space.”

“Yeah. I guess we won’t be doing much skiing unless this blizzard calms down.” Jeff glanced out the window. “Just be careful. I want to make sure we catch this bastard, but I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Annie smiled at Jeff. “That’s very sweet, but don’t you think you’re being dramatic? I mean, it’s a guy that puts quarters down the back of people’s pants, not some crazy serial killer.”

“I guess you’re right. But still, you know I can’t help worrying about you.” Jeff stood up. 

Annie kissed Jeff on the cheek. “I know. And you know I can take care of myself. You don’t need to worry so much, even if it is very sweet of you.” Annie moved towards the door. “Now, let’s go get some breakfast, I’m starving.”

The two headed off to breakfast. Over the course of the day, both kept an eye out for anything that might clue them in on who might be the Ass Crack Bandit. As the day wore one, the weather grew harsher, the wind howling at the windows and the snow piling up against the doors and windows deeper and deeper by the minute. Shortly before dinner, Jeff and Annie headed back to their room to discuss what they’d seen.

“I’m pretty sure it isn’t Britta.” Annie sat on the bed, rereading the note the Bandit had left for the umpteenth time. “She and your brother spent the whole day together, and nothing they did really stood out as suspicious. And Todd spent the whole day on the phone to his wife and kids, so he’s probably not it either.”

Jeff paced back and forth. “I don’t think it’s Craig or Neil. Neil mostly spent the day with Vicki, though I think he’s still pissed at us about that thing with Gupta Gupti Gupta, since he didn’t respond when I said hi. And Craig kept trying to give me various canned and jarred foods, all while being very cagey about why. It was definitely weird, honestly more than a bit concerning, but not Ass Crack Bandit behavior.”

Annie looked at Jeff, perplexed. “He kept trying to give you cans and jars of things?”

“Yeah! This isn’t something new, either! And he called me ‘Takashi’! Do you think it’s code for something? I’m starting to worry that there’s something wrong with him!” Jeff’s voice was a combination of bewilderment and exasperation.

Annie gave Jeff a concerned look. “Have you tried talking to him about this?”

Jeff sighed heavily. “More than once. He just laughs and acts like it’s some sort of inside joke.” Jeff sat down next to Annie. “But I think we’re losing focus on what’s really important.” Jeff rubbed his temples. “Did you see Kim at all today?”

“No. I don’t think he came out of his room at all today. Do you think he’s…?” Annie trailed off.

“The Bandit? I mean, he’s the only person left, unless we’re overlooking something.” Jeff turned his head towards the window, a creaking, cracking noise from outside drawing his attention. “It’s not like we know much about him, other than he likes Dave.” Jeff stood up. “Maybe we should go talk to Craig. He might know more about Kim.”

As Annie stood up and the two moved towards the door, a loud crack, like a gunshot, followed by the lights going out caused them to jump. As they both fumbled for the doorknob in the dark, they heard a scream from down the hall. Jeff finally managed to grab the knob and he and Annie scrambled out of their room and down the hall. 

In the common room, Todd and Dean Pelton were lighting candles. Willy Jr sat on the couch, visibly shaken and confused, as Britta comforted him. Everyone else, with the notable exception of Abed, stood around, eyeing each other suspiciously. 

“What happened?” Jeff barked. “And where’s Abed?” 

As the words left his mouth, Abed ran back into the common room wearing a plaid deerstalker cap and ulster. “Sorry! I had to grab something from my suitcase!” He put a pipe in his mouth as he moved to stand next to the fireplace, one arm resting on the mantle as he leaned against it.

Jeff shook his head in bemusement.“I’ll ask again, what happened?” 

“Willy got cracked.” Britta hugged Jeff’s half-brother close. “The Ass Crack Bandit’s back. And it’s one of us.”

“No!” Dean Pelton was indignant. “The Ass Crack Bandit was Starburns!”

Jeff closed the doors to the common room. “Well, Craig, Starburns isn’t here, is he? And that means that either there’s a copycat. Or, it was never Starburns to begin with.”

“But he confessed!” Dean Pelton pleaded. “Why would he confess if he didn’t do it?”

“You promised to get rid of the charges against him if he confessed!” 

“Oh, right.” Dean Pelton looked off to the side. “Well, Greendale’s official stance is still that it was Starburns.”

Jeff sighed heavily. “Okay then. Ignoring Greendale’s official stance, Annie and I have reason to believe that the Ass Crack Bandit is on this trip. In fact, I believe the Ass Crack Bandit is in this room right now.”

Abed pulled out his phone. “One second!” he fiddled with it for a few moments. Eventually, he held up his phone and the classic dramatic sting played.

Jeff stopped and looked at Abed. “Abed, why are you dressed like Sherlock Holmes? This more of a  _ Murder on the Orient Express  _ situation, so shouldn’t you be dressed like Poirot?”

Abed went back over to the mantle. “I guess, but then I’d just have a silly fake mustache on and no one would know who I was supposed to be.”

Jeff opened his mouth to follow up on that point before thinking better of it. “As I was saying, I believe the Ass Crack Bandit is in this room at this very moment.”

“And,” Annie chimed in. “We believe we know who it is!”

Dean Pelton gasped dramatically while Troy and Abed began murmuring back and forth. Eventually, Britta spoke. “Who do you think it is?”

Jeff took the note from Annie’s hand. “Before we get there, I think it’s best we explain  _ how _ Annie and I came to our conclusion. You see, this morning we awoke to find  _ this _ ! _ ”  _ Jeff held the note aloft. “A note, signed by the Ass Crack Bandit, and referencing a phone call only Annie and I were part of. Further, there multiple references to Dave Matthews Band song, and as you all know, the Bandit is a fan of Dave Matthews, or Dave, as hardcore fans call him!”

Annie stepped forward. “So Jeff and I were left with a few facts to go off of. First, the Ass Crack Bandit was on this trip, which meant there were thirteen suspects. Of course, we felt that we could safely eliminate Willy as one, since he wasn’t around the first two times the Bandit was active.”

“And Garrett, Vicki, and Troy had all been victims of the Bandit themselves.” Jeff took over. “That left us with nine suspects. Now, surely Abed would never have cracked Troy, his best friend. And I don’t see Neil cracking Vicki, given their relationship. So that left us with seven. Dean Pelton has nothing to gain and everything to lose by having a maniac running around his school dropping quarters down the backs of everyone’s pants, so he’s out as a suspect.”

“Aww, Jeffrey!” Dean Pelton moved close to Jeff. “That’s sweet of you!” He went to hug Jeff, who pushed him off.

“Not now, Craig.” Jeff glared at Dean Pelton. “Leonard, despite this being the sort of thing he’d do, is far too old to have been able to cover the distance in the time required, as seen in the first crackings.”

“I may be old, but I could still outrun your ass, Winger!” Leonard stuck his tongue out at Jeff.

“Shut up Leonard. You couldn’t outrun maple syrup in mid-February.” Annie shot back.

Jeff placed his hand on the small of Annie’s back gently. “Thank you, Annie. Now, that left us with Todd, Britta, Kim, Annie, and me. I knew it wasn’t me or Annie. And while Todd does have some...unsettling habits, I don’t think he’s our guy. No offense, Todd.” 

Todd sighed. “None taken…”

Jeff resumed talking. “And so, we were left with two possible culprits: Britta and Kim. No offense, Britta, but you aren’t exactly the greatest at not screwing things up.”

Britta glared at Jeff. “None taken.”

“Plus, I know for a fact that she’s not a huge Dave fan. That just leaves us with Kim.” Everyone turned to look at Kim, who is seated in a chair at the back of the room. “Now, I don’t know a lot about Kim, but I do know a few things. First, Kim is a fan of Dave. Craig mentioned this yesterday. Second, Kim can be quite the schemer when he’s angry at someone. And third, Kim gets angry when people don’t remember who he is.”

Troy leapt to his feet and pointed at Kim. “J’accuse! Am I using that right?” Annie nodded. 

Kim stood up from his chair. “Looks like you have everything figured out, Jeff. You and your little girlfriend. Yeah, I was the Ass Crack Bandit. I managed to put the whole school on edge too. You were all  _ so _ worried about who it was, but of course everyone forgot about me!”

Dean Pelton gasped, offended. “Kim! And to think you let me accuse poor Starburns of being the Ass Crack Bandit. Now I owe him not only an apology, but I also have to give him his choice of one prize from the Dean’s Treasure Chest!”

Kim walked over to the nearest window. “Oh, like you cared about Starburns! You just wanted someone to blame! And you were perfectly happy blaming a man who  _ insisted _ he was innocent, all because it made you look like you accomplished something!”

“Okay, well, that’s not fair, Kim.” Dean Pelton put his hands up defensively. “There are many reasons that Greendale, as an institution, agreed to continue officially recognizing Starburns as the Ass Crack Bandit, and you are expelled.”

Kim threw open the window, causing a flurry of snow and cold air to blow into the room, extinguishing some of the candles. “You can expel me, but you’ll never be rid of me! I promise you, I’ll be back!” Kim climbed out the window and disappeared into the blizzard.

Jeff ran to the window, pulling it shut as he looked out at where Kim had gone. “Why would he do that? Where is he going to go?” Jeff turned around, a baffled look on his face. “I mean, it’s a full-on blizzard out there!”

Troy stood up and looked out the window himself. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

Before anyone could answer, they heard the front door open followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. Everyone turned towards the door to the common room as Lerpten the Caretaker opened it, dragging Kim behind him by the arm. “Sorry I was a bit later gettin’ back. Th’roads are a mite terrible. I ran into this’un runnin’ down the road, and when I offered to give him a ride, he tried slippin’ a quarter down the backa m’ trousers.”

“Yeah, he does that sometimes,” Jeff replied.

Kim grumbled something in response before being led to his room. The rest of the night was largely uneventful, with most of the group retiring to their rooms early. The next day, everyone, a bit dispirited from the previous night’s events, packed their things and headed back to Greendale. 

Almost as soon as Jeff and Annie made it back to their apartment, Annie hurried into the bathroom. After close to an hour, Jeff knocked on the door. “Annie? You’ve been in there a while. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Annie called through the door unsteadily. “I’m fine.” Despite her claim, Jeff was worried.


	6. I've Shared My Life With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff and Professor Duncan go out for drinks and things briefly get very British. The next day, a hungover Jeff learns something about himself after a shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading. 
> 
> As always, I welcome any and all feedback you may have for me. 
> 
> To any British readers, I apologize, given that I probably butchered most of the slang I use. To everyone else, I included a translation of some of the odder bits of slang at the end.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

"Alright, and who can tell me what doctrine _Marbury v. Madison_ established?" Jeff looked around the classroom. "Anyone? Dave?" Dave shrugged. "Bluestreak?"

A student at the back of the room with a single streak of blue-dyed into his hair looked up, confused. "Ummm, judicial review?"

Jeff looked down at his notes, realizing he hadn't actually written down the answer to the question. "Yeah, sure. That sounds right." His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out. "So uhh, break into groups and quiz each other on Chapters 3 and 4."

Jeff sat down at his desk at the front of the classroom and read the text he'd gotten from Duncan:

_Winger! Drinks tonight? Or does Miss Annie-Fannie not let you out anymore?_

_Drinks sound great. Where were you thinking?_

_How about Fox and Hounds at gravedigger's biscuits? I could use a little taste of home._

_Gravedigger's biscuits?_

_630, Winger._

_Sounds good. See you then._

Jeff put his phone down and stood back up. "That’s probably enough learning for today. Review Chapter 4 and _Nix v. Hedden_ for next time." 

Students began to file out of the room as Jeff packed up his things. Just as he was ready to leave, a student wearing a paramedic jacket approached. “Mr Winger?”

Jeff looked up. “Yes, First Aid?”

“It’s Kyle, Mr Winger. And I had a question about the Tipsy Coachman doctrine.” 

“I know, but this semester’s theme is Transformers, so everyone is named after a Transformer.” Jeff looked at the door to the classroom, hoping Annie would be waiting for him. “Anyways, what was your question?”

“I just guess I just don’t understand it? Does it just mean that even if a lower applies a doctrine incorrectly, a high court will uphold it? Or is it just _when_ a higher court upholds it? The textbook wasn’t super clear on it?”

“That is a great question, First Aid. You see…” Jeff realized he had no idea what the hell the Tipsy Coachman doctrine was and desperately tried to find a way to extricate himself from the situation. Just as he was about to fake a phone call, Annie walked up to the doorway. “Oh! Look at the time! Unfortunately, I’ll have to get back to you on that. But I promise you I’ll have more information for you on Drunk Charioteer doctrine at our next class.” Jeff hurried to the door.

“Tipsy Coachman…” Kyle called after Jeff, thoroughly confused.

“What was that about?” Annie asked Jeff as they headed toward the cafeteria.

“Oh, First Aid had a question about something.” Jeff shrugged. “Something about Drunk Charioteer doctrine or something? I’m not really sure.”

“Jeff!” Annie sounded genuinely offended. “Have you seriously not read the textbook for your class yet? You promised me you would! And are you seriously calling all of your students by the names of different Transformers?”

“I meant to, I just got distracted. And yeah, this semester is Transformers. I was thinking next semester’s theme could be GI Joe. Or maybe ThunderCats.” Jeff gave Annie an impish grin.

Annie rolled her eyes. “You need to sit down and at least read the chapters you’ve assigned tonight. Maybe if you show me you’ve actually put in some effort…” She nuzzled against Jeff’s shoulder.

“Oh. I see…” Jeff stopped for a second, debating if he should cancel his plans with Duncan. “Duncan and I were going to go out for drinks tonight, so I’ll have to take a raincheck.” 

Annie sighed heavily. “Okay. But no trying to whittle this time. And call me for a ride home.”

After lunch, the rest of Jeff’s day went by fairly quickly, his afternoon section of Oral Arguments being occupied by Dave and Garrett arguing about whether Batman is ultimately more helpful or more harmful to Gotham City. Eventually, they both came to an agreement that, while a great focus on philanthropy, especially in regards to rehabilitative and diversionary programs would help Gotham City to some degree, the sheer lunacy of the nature and methods of the criminals active in the city somewhat necessitate something beyond traditional crime-fighting methods.

After classes had finished for the day, Jeff met back up with Annie, and they went out for an early dinner at Señor Kevin’s. 

After the waiter had taken their orders, Annie smiled at Jeff softly. “So, Willy and Britta seem to be really happy together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Britta as happy as she’s been these last few weeks.”

“Yeah. Willy keeps texting me, asking for advice on stuff like where to take Britta on dates.” Jeff shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell him half the time.”

“Well, why don’t you just tell him to do the same stuff you do. You’re a pretty good boyfriend, as much as I’m sure it pains you to hear that.” Annie grinned at Jeff.

“Why would it pain me to hear that? I love hearing about things I’m great at!” Jeff grinned back.

Just as Annie was about to respond, their waiter brought their food to them, setting a plate of the Cheese-a-Lotta Enchiladas in front of Annie and a Neato-Discrete-oh Low Carb Burrito in front of Jeff. Almost as soon as the plate was set down in front of her, Annie began to voraciously devour her dinner.

“You okay there, Annie?” Jeff gave her a surprised look.

Annie stopped and looked at Jeff, a bit embarrassed. “Oh. Sorry. I’ve just been really hungry lately. And tired. I threw up again this morning, too. I’m a bit worried I might be coming down with something.”

“Okay. Let me know if we need to go to the doctor or something.” As Jeff began to eat his burrito, something at the back of his mind began to worry him, though he couldn’t quite place his finger on it.

After lunch, Jeff and Annie drove back to their apartment. Jeff took a quick shower before heading out to meet up with Duncan. He gave Annie a quick kiss on the corner of the mouth as he walked out the door.

“Remember to call me if you drink too much!” Annie called after him.

Jeff turned back and smiled at her. “Don’t worry, I will!” Jeff called back.

Jeff pulled up to the Fox & Hounds, a cozy looking, timber frame building with a faux-thatch roof, which made it stand out awkwardly against the strip mall to which it was adjacent. Walking in, he found it surprisingly full, with the majority of the occupants speaking with one sort of British accent or another. Scanning the room, he noticed Duncan seated in a booth in the far corner and made his way over. 

As Jeff sat down, Duncan slid a glass of scotch over to him. “Winger! I was wondering when you were going to show up. The missus hold you up?” Duncan grinned.

“Ha! No, we were just grabbing an early dinner.” Jeff took a sip of his scotch. “Damn! This is good! What is it?”

As Duncan opened his mouth to answer, a burly red-haired man stepped in. “That there, lad, is a Tomatin 12 year. Our head barman, Donal, brought a few bottles with ‘im when he came over. Bloody good stuff, innit?” The man stuck out a meaty hand. “Brian Annerley, sole owner and proprietor of this here fine establishment.”

Jeff shook the man’s hand. “Jeff Winger.”

“Oh, so you’re the famous Jeff Winger who got our boy Ian here out of his little scrape with the law!” Brian laughed heartily. “How come you’ve never brought Mr Winger here round before, Ian? ‘Fraid one of us might nick ‘im off ya, show ‘im how a real Brit treats their mates?”

Duncan laughed harshly. “Oh piss off, Brian! Winger’n I been mates long enough he wouldn’t drop me for some dodgy bloke from Bristol!”

“Oooh!” Brian intoned a falsetto. “I didn’t know ye had bagsy on ‘im! Well, in that case, I’ll leave you two alone for now, but swing by for a chinwag later. Got some news for ya.” Brian went off to tend to other business in the pub.

Just as Jeff and Duncan were about to start catching up, a tall lanky man with a bright green mohawk slid into the booth next to Duncan. “Ian Duncan? I ain’t seen ye in yonks!”

Duncan sighed. “Hello, Harry. How are you?”

“Oh! Ye ain’t heard? Well, I came into a good bitta wonga no’ too long ago! Me an’ m’mate Louis were on our way to a knees-up for Crimbo when we got inna bit o’ a prang. Some bellend having a tinkle on the ol’ blower ran right on through a red light an’ hit me Fiesta! Made a right dog’s dinner outta the thing! Well, the smarmy knob’ead tried saying it was my fault, sayin’ I weren’t paying attention an’ all that. Well, turns out one of the blokes lives nearby was a real curtain twitcher, had one o’ them fancy video doorbells an’ caught the whole thing! Well that threw a real spanner in ‘is plan, and since both me an’ Louis had stiff necks from the whole thing, we ended up going to court! Well, the wazzock hired some real wally lawyer. Alan something or another. As it turns out, the plonker’d been enjoying a bit too much o’ the old nose candy and bollocksed up the whole proceed’ngs. I ended up winning a bit over a half mil! Bought me an’ the missus a nice little house out in the suburbs, a new car, everything!”

Duncan sighed again and nodded. “That’s fantastic, Harry. But my mate Jeff here and I were trying to enjoy a drink. Mind giving us a bit of space?”

Harry mumbled something under his breath as he got up and wandered off. Jeff gave Duncan a befuddled look. “What the hell just happened? Did he have some sort of stroke or something?”

Duncan laughed. “No no, Harry’s just a bit of an odd duck, likes to use British slang a lot, ‘specially ‘round yanks.”

Jeff nodded, still confused. “Okay, but what the hell did he just say?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Duncan took a sip of his lager.

“Okay,” Jeff replied, still baffled. “So, how’s your semester been going?”

“Jeff, do you think I brought you here so we could talk about work?” Duncan groaned. “No, I asked you to come out tonight so we could talk about something _much_ more important. Namely, how are things going between your brother and Britta? Think I have a chance?”

Jeff gave Duncan a look of mild disapproval. “Seriously, how is that your people had an empire that covered a quarter of the Earth’s surface?”

Duncan feigned offense. “That doesn’t answer my question, Jeffrey.”

Jeff sighed. “Willy and Britta seem very happy together. So no, I don’t think you have much of a chance at the moment. Turns out you really aren’t competition for either Winger man.”

“Damn! Well, if he truly is your brother, I’m sure Willy will screw things up sooner or later.” Duncan finished off his lager. “And _that_ is when I swoop in.”

“Like a vulture, a carrion bird picking apart the carcass of someone else’s relationship.” Jeff finished his scotch. Before he had a chance to order another round, a waitress dropped off another glass for him and a second lager for Duncan.

Duncan grinned at Jeff. “I told them to keep the drinks coming. It’s been far too long since we got good and drunk together.”

Jeff laughed. “Okay, but I promised Annie I wouldn’t try to whittle this time.”

Duncan nodded in agreement. “That’s probably for the best. I got a nasty infection last time.” Duncan raised an eyebrow as he looked at Jeff over the rim of his glass. “So, how’s that going? Dating a student and all that?”

Jeff swirls his drink, a small smile on his face as he stared into it. “Honestly? It’s amazing. I mean, if you had told me a few years ago that I’d be as happy as I am having a live-in girlfriend, I’d’ve called you crazy. Hell, we went to Pottery Barn a few weekends ago and I didn’t hate every second of it.”

“I knew it! You fucking love her!” Duncan gave Jeff a faux-accusatory look.

Jeff shook his head, laughing softly. “Yeah, I do. I fucking love Annie Edison. And want to know the truth? I don’t care who knows it!”

“So, you gonna marry her then? Make her Annie Winger?” Duncan laughed, leaning back into his seat.

Jeff leaned forward. “I think I just might have to. Though she might want to keep her last name.”

“Well, I’ll drink to that!” Duncan downed the rest of his lager in a single gulp, and when the waitress dropped off a second, he downed that quickly. “Now, let’s get wasted!”

Jeff quickly downed his scotch, as well as the next two glasses brought to him, relishing the burn as each went down his throat. Over the course of the next few hours, Jeff and Duncan became very drunk. At one point they even led the entire pub in a very slurred rendition of _The White Cliffs of Dover_ , though Jeff had to mumble his way through half the song, given he didn’t know the words.

A bit after midnight, Jeff fumbled his phone out of his pocket to text Annie. After several unsuccessful attempts, he managed to unlock his phone and pull up his text messages. 

_Cab yuo comee pixk me uop/ m verty runk_

_Okay. I’ll be there in a bit. Love you. <3 _

_Lobe yyou too_

About twenty minutes later, Annie arrived at the Fox & Hounds. By this time, Jeff had downed another two glasses of scotch, and, as a result, was slumped over in the booth. Annie made her way to the bar, unable to locate Jeff.

Donal the bartender, a large dark-haired, Scottish man with a mustache that even Wilford Brimley would envy, turned towards Annie. “What ken I do for ye, Lassie?”

“Hi! I’m looking for my boyfriend, Jeff Winger. He asked me to come pick him up. He’s here with Ian Duncan.” Annie nervously looked around the room, worried about what Jeff might have gotten himself into.

“Oh, so yer the bonnie lass he’s been braggin’ aboot all night! Fair warnin’, he’s a bit sloshed. Gimme one sec.” Donal cupped his hands to his mouth. “Oi! Jeff Winger! Yer lass is here ta take ya home!”

Jeff shot upright like a prairie dog that had just seen a northern harrier circling overhead. “Annie!” He called out as he awkwardly slid out of the booth and stumbled towards the bar, a dopey half-grin plastered on his face. “You came to pick me up!” Jeff’s words slurred together.

“Yes. I did.” Annie smiled at Jeff, a combination of amusement and annoyance on her face. “Now,” she wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders, hoping he’d only need her for a bit of extra support. “Let’s get you home.”

The two slowly made their way to Jeff’s car, Jeff often stumbling, dragging Annie with him. At Jeff’s car, Annie leaned him up against the passenger side rear door and dug into his pockets in an attempt to find his keys. Jeff began to slowly slide down the car giggling a bit. 

“I’m gonna murry you!” Jeff looked up at Annie, smiling broadly. “I’m genna merry you and then you’re gunna be Mrs Jeff Wingder. Or I’ll be Mr Annie Edison. Or we can both beee…” Jeff stared off into space for a minute. “Jaenfnifireey Weidnigseorn!”

Annie stopped for a moment at that last one, her brow furrowed in confusion “That’s very sweet Jeff, but let’s focus on getting you home first.” She finally pulled Jeff’s car keys out of his pocket, unlocking the doors. “There we go! Now, let’s get you up!” Annie reached down to pull Jeff up. “Come on, Jeff!” Annie groaned. “Help me out here a little!”

Jeff finally got his feet under himself. “Sorry,” he mumbled. Annie opened the car door for him and he slumped into the seat.

“So, how much _did_ you drink tonight?” Annie glanced over at Jeff as she started to drive back to their apartment.

Jeff flopped his head to look at Annie. “A _lot._ I’m really drunk…”

Annie gently patted Jeff on the leg. “Yes, you are.” A few minutes later, Annie heard snoring coming from the seat next to her and noticed Jeff had fallen asleep. She pulled up to their apartment building and parked the car. Looking over at Jeff, she shook him by the shoulders. “Jeff!”

Jeff waved his arms in front of himself lazily. “No’righ’now. I’m tiiired.”

Annie shook him again. “Jeff! We’re home! Let’s go upstairs.” She shook him once more, significantly harder.

Jeff opened his eyes halfway. “Huh? Are we home?”

Annie smiled and nodded. “Yes, we are. Now, let’s go upstairs and get you into bed.” She climbed out of the car and walked around the passenger side to help Jeff out.

“You di’n’t have to get me drunk to get me to sleep wi’ you.” Jeff grinned at her as she helped steady him on the way up to their apartment. Once inside, she guided him into the bedroom, where he promptly fell onto the bed face first. Before long, Jeff had begun to snore again. Annie stood in the doorway to the bedroom for a moment, smiling softly, before she went to go get ready for bed.

* * *

The next morning, Jeff sat at the kitchen table, his head throbbing. He didn’t remember much of the previous night but was fairly certain he’d gotten drunk enough that he’d likely made an ass of himself in one way or another. Annie had left him a note letting him know she’d gone out to run some errands that she’d be back later that afternoon.

His phone rang, the shrill ringing causing his headache to worsen significantly. Silencing it, he got up and went into the bathroom, rummaging through the medicine cabinet for some aspirin. Taking the last two tablets, he went to throw the empty box in the trash can, just barely missing. As he bent to pick it up, Jeff noticed a pink box half-buried in the can. 

Fishing it out, he collapsed onto the toilet, his mind racing as he read the label. He dropped the box onto the ground and walked back into the other room. Jeff picked up his phone and stared at it. He debated calling Britta, but knew if he did, they’d just get into a fight. Neither Troy nor Abed seemed like they were quite mature enough for this situation. Wracking his brain, he finally realized there was one person that he _could_ turn to for advice.

Grabbing his jacket and keys, Jeff ran down the hall, brushing off Craig as he passed. As he pulled his keys out of his pocket, he could see that his hands were shaking. Once he was behind the wheel of his Lexus, he took a moment to center himself, worried he might have a panic attack if he didn’t. 

Once he got on the road, Jeff felt his focus drift from driving to the box he’d found in the bathroom. He more than once had to shake his head to bring his driving back to the forefront of his mind. As he pulled up in front of the unassuming two-story craftsman, he took a few deep breaths to center himself.

Stepping out of the car, Jeff felt raindrops begin to fall on his head. He rang the doorbell and stood, unsure of what to say, when an African-American boy in early adolescence opened the door.

“Jordan, right?” Jeff pointed at him, questioningly.

“Yeah. Who are you?” Jordan eyed Jeff suspiciously.

“I’m Jeff. I’m a friend of your mom.”

“Okay.” Jordan continued to look at Jeff suspiciously.

“I’m actually looking for your dad right now. Is he home?’

“Yeah.”

“Can I talk to him?” Jeff began to sound annoyed.

“DAD! SOME GUY WHO KNOWS MOM IS HERE TO TALK TO YOU!” Jordan turned and yelled back into the house before wanding off.

A few moments later, Andre Bennett came to the door. “Jeff Winger?”

“Hey, Andre. Mind if I come in? It’s starting to come down pretty hard.” Jeff gestured at the rain.

“Oh, yeah! Of course!” Andre ushered Jeff inside. “What can I do for you, Man? If this is about you trying to get me and Shirley back together, you’re the fifth one of your friends to show up, and we’re working on it, it’s just taking some time.”

Jeff slipped his shoes off and followed Andre into the living room. “No, it’s actually about something else. Though I’m glad you guys are trying to make it work.”

Andre chuckled. “Well, I appreciate that.” Andre motioned for Jeff to take a seat. “Well then, what can I do for you?”

“Well, I’ve been seeing someone for a while now. And things are going great, but…” Jeff trailed off.

“You’re worried she’s pregnant.” Andre finished his sentence for him.

“Yeah. How did you know?” Jeff looked at Andre hesitantly.

“I’ve been there, man. I’ve been there.” Andre shook his head thoughtfully.

“Yeah. I mean, I just don’t know what to do, and you’re the best father I know, which unfortunately isn’t saying a whole lot.” Jeff laughed.

“Well, I take that as a compliment.” Andre leaned back in his seat. “Tell me about this girl of yours. You love her?”

Jeff sighed wistfully. “Yeah, I do. I love her like crazy. I mean, she’s brilliant and beautiful. And she always pushes me to be a better man. She makes me want to put effort into everything I do. And I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

Andre chuckled again. “Seems like you got it all figured out. So why are you here?”

Jeff looked down at his hands, which had begun to shake again. “What if I’m not ready to be a father? I mean, my dad was terrible. He ditched my mom when I was nine and it screwed me up. Bad. Hell, I’ll probably be dealing with the damage he did for the rest of my life. I mean, what if I end up like him? What if I screw my kid up just as bad as my dad did me?”

Andre leaned in and looked into Jeff’s eyes. “Well first off, you’re never ready to be a father. Doesn’t matter if it’s someone you hooked up with drunk at a bar or you’re married and you’ve been trying for years, you’re _never_ ready. Hell, I remember when Shirley told me she was pregnant with Jordan. Every instinct I had told me to run. But there was one part of me, the part of me that loves that woman more than anything in the world, that told me to stay. And you know what? The first time I held that little screaming ball of joy in my arms, and I looked at that life that _I helped create_ , every worry I had about being a dad melted away because I knew that I was going to be there for him. And when his brother came kicking and screaming into this world, I knew that I could handle it. Hell, when Ben was born, and we had all that crap with Chang, I worried way less than any sane person should have.” Andre laughed again. “How is that crazy little dude doing, by the way? He end up in jail yet?”

Jeff ruminated on all the insanity that had been Chang since Andre had last seen him, from becoming dictator of Greendale to the Changnesia situation, to becoming a viral internet sensation. “Surprisingly, no. He’s doing...okay? I think? It’s hard to tell with him.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Andre shook his head. “But you wanna know the other reason you shouldn’t worry about being like your dad? You could have run. You could have gone anywhere, gotten on a plane, and left, disappeared. You could’ve been in the wind by now. But you didn’t. You came _here_ . You came to _me_ . Because you _aren’t_ your dad. You’re a better man. And you’re gonna be a better father than he ever was because you want to be. And because, if nothing else, your love for that woman and whatever children you may have with her always brings you back home. Brings you back to where you belong. _That’s_ what makes you nothing like your father.”

Jeff nodded, letting Andre’s words sink in. “Thank you, Andre. That means a lot.” Jeff’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out, seeing a text from Annie.

_Hey. Just got home. Where are you?_

_Just had to run out to take care of something. I’ll be home in a bit._

_Okay. See you soon. Love you! <3 _

_Love you too. :)_

Jeff slid his phone back into his pocket. “Hey, I gotta go. But thank you, seriously. You’ve given me a lot to think about.” 

Jeff and Andre both stood up and walked towards the door. “So, who’s this girl of yours? That brunette girl that helped plan my and Shirley’s second wedding?”

Jeff glanced up at Andre as he tied his shoes. “How did you…?”

Andre chuckled once more. “Shirley told me about you two when she was picking up the kids a few months ago. Sounds like you two make each other happy. Just make sure you take care of her.”

Jeff stood up. “I will.” As Andre stuck his hand out for Jeff to shake, Jeff hugged Andre briefly but fiercely. “Thank you. And if I can ever return the favor, let me know.”

As Jeff headed towards his car, Andre called after him. “Don’t worry, I will!”

On his drive home, Jeff felt a newfound sense of confidence. Though he was still worried, his head was much clearer and his hands were steady. As he pulled up outside his apartment building and started to head inside, Jeff felt an uneasy resolve take hold of him. He took a deep breath as he walked up to the apartment door. Inside the apartment, Annie sat on the couch, doing some reading for her Advanced Topics in Homicide Investigation course. 

As Jeff walked inside, she turned to look at him. “Hey! Where have you been?”

Jeff sat down on the couch next to Annie. “I had something I needed to take care of.”

Annie gave Jeff a confused look. “Is everything okay? You’re acting kind of weird.”

Jeff steeled himself for what he was about to say, taking a deep breath before speaking. “I found the pregnancy test box in the bathroom this morning, and at first, I was really freaked out. I mean, I don’t know if I’m ready to be a dad yet, or if I’ll ever be ready. Hell, I was worried I’d be exactly like _my_ dad. But then I went and talked to someone who reminded me of a few things. Namely, that no one’s ever really ready to be a dad. And that I had the choice to run away, and I didn’t, so I’m nothing like my dad. He also reminded me that no matter what happens, I love you more than anything, and that will always bring me back to you. So I may not be ready, and I don’t know if I’m going to be worth half a damn as a father, but I’m here for you, and for any kid we have.” 

The confusion on Annie’s face slowly faded to a smile as she listened to Jeff. Finally, she began to laugh. “Jeff, that is incredibly sweet of you. But I’m not pregnant.”

Jeff was dumbfounded. “You’re not? But, the pregnancy test box in the bathroom trash…”

Annie laughed again. “The tests were expired, Jeff. I was going to tell you not to worry about it if you saw them, but I guess I forgot. I promise you, if I ever have any worry that I might be pregnant, I’m not going to hide it from you.”

Jeff slumped back into the couch as relief washed over him like a tsunami crashing over a small Okinawan fishing village in the mid Sanzan period. “Oh thank god! I was _not_ ready for any of this.” Jeff looked over at Annie. “But I did mean what I said. No matter what happens, I promise you, I will be here for you.”

Annie smiled again and kissed him on the forehead. “I know. Now, I should get back to studying. And _you_ should do that reading for your classes.”

Jeff sighed as he went to go dig out his teacher’s edition of the Constitutional Law textbook. As he sat down at the kitchen table, he looked at Annie again and smiled. Despite himself, he was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t going to be a father yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a translation of some of the less common British slang used.
> 
> Bagsy - dibs  
> Chinwag - chat  
> Wonga - money  
> Knees-up - party  
> Crimbo - Christmas  
> Curtain Twitcher - a nosy person  
> Wazzock - idiot  
> Plonker - idiot


	7. Through the Ancient Ruins, Where the Fires of My Ancestors Burned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff, Annie, Britta, Abed, Troy, and Willy go on a trip to Venice for Spring Break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet again, thank you all so much for reading, I really do appreciate it greatly.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> As always, I welcome any and all feedback you may have for me.

“You guys wanna go on a trip for Spring Break?” Troy asked as he, Jeff, Annie, Abed, Britta, and Willy sat around a table at The Vatican.

“Where were you thinking?” Jeff replied, taking a sip from his beer.

“I dunno,” Troy shrugged. “I figured we could go wherever. My treat.”

“I’ve always wanted to see Italy,” Annie chimed in.

“That could be fun. Plus, when Inspector Spacetime went to Italy, he met his Italian counterpart, Ispettore Spaziotempo, and they fought the Cy-Borgias,” Abed added. “Like the Borgias, but cyborgs,” He explained when he noticed the group's confusion.

“Thanks, Abed,” Jeff replied. “I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for that.”

“So it’s decided! We’re going to Italy!” Britta cheered. “Now, let’s drink!” She ran over to the bar and pulled out a bottle of prosecco, ignoring the protests of the other bartender working.

“Where in Italy should we go? Rome? Florence? Sicily? The Amalfi Coast?” Willy asked as Britta poured everyone a glass.

“What about Venice?” Annie replied. “Think about how romantic it’d be! Taking a ride in a gondola, or watching the sunset from the Ponte Rialto!” Annie sighed as she leaned her head on Jeff’s shoulder.

“We could see that library from  _ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade _ ,” Abed added.

“Sounds like there’s something for everyone!” Britta passed around the glasses of prosecco. “But don’t you guys feel bad about not inviting Shirley or Frankie along?”

“Oh, I’m paying for Shirley to take her kids to Florida,” Troy replied. “I bought them tickets to Disney and Universal Studios. And when I asked Frankie if she wanted to come on vacation with us, she said ‘I’d love to, but unfortunately I have to stay here and keep the Dean from burning the school down’.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Britta replied as the group nodded in agreement.

“Hey, Troy,” Annie looked over at Troy. “It’s really awesome that you’re being so generous, but shouldn’t you invest some of your money? Or at least put it in a savings account?”

“Oh, yeah, I did. Pierce’s brother Gilbert helped set me up with all of that stuff. He had me put half of my money in a high yield savings account and helped me invest another third in my portfolio, whatever that means. After all that, I still have a bit over two million dollars left to spend. I’m thinking of buying an ocelot. Or maybe a house.” Troy looked at the rest of the group, noticing the skeptical looks on their faces. “Okay, okay, I’ll buy a house,” he held up his hands. “And then an ocelot,” Troy quickly added under his breath.

“Troy, you can’t buy an ocelot!” Britta exclaimed.

“That’s what you said when I wanted a monkey,” Troy shot back.

“And where is that monkey now, Troy?” Britta returned.

“Last time I checked, Annie’s Boobs is still living in the vents at Greendale!” Troy smiled smugly.

“Oh, um, Troy,” Abed cut in. “While you were sailing around the world with LeVar Burton, the Save Greendale Committee caught Annie’s Boobs and gave her to a monkey rescue.”

Troy gasped. “You guys captured Annie’s Boobs? And then handed Annie’s Boobs over to some weird monkey people? How could you do that to Annie’s-”

“Troy, I know you were attached to the monkey, but maybe you should let it go. And maybe stop referring to the monkey by its name,” Jeff cut Troy off when he noticed Annie shifting in her seat uneasily. “It makes Annie uncomfortable.” He gently placed his hand on Annie’s knee reassuringly.

“Okay, fine!” Troy grumbled. “I won’t get an ocelot. Yet.” He mumbled the last word under his breath.

Jeff side-eyed Troy. “Alright then. I’m sure we have some stuff to take care of before we go, right? I mean, I need a passport, don’t I?”

“Oh, no, I already took care of that for you,” Annie piped up sheepishly.

“Doesn’t the person applying for the passport need to be there for that?” Abed inquired.

“Oh, yeah. Jeff was there,” Annie replied quietly.

Jeff looked over at Annie, confused. “What? When?”

“Remember that time we went to the post office and you had to sign those documents so I could get my mail at our apartment? Well, we were really having you apply for a passport.”

Jeff held up his hand to object before stopping. “You know what? I’m actually okay with that.” Annie smiled broadly, pushing her shoulder against Jeff’s.

As everyone moved to toast their plans to go to Italy, Willy looked around befuddled. “So wait, Troy had a pet monkey? And that monkey lived in the vents at Greendale?”

“Remember when I was telling you about our first year at Greendale when we formed a mafia centered around fried chicken, babe? Well, when Abed was in charge of it, he got us all things we wanted. I got a hairstylist, Annie got a fancy backpack, Pierce got an entourage, and Troy got a monkey. Then, when he had to take us down for  _ some  _ reason, he released Troy’s monkey, which ended up living in the vents and turned into a bit of a kleptomaniac.”

Willy nodded thoughtfully. “And Pierce was the old racist guy who died from masturbating a bunch, right?”

“Yeah. He’s also the one that left me all his shares in the moist towelette company his dad started, which is where I got all my money,” Troy added.

“Got it!” Willy pulled out his phone and typed something into it. “I think I’m starting to get a hang on all of this. I’m still a little confused about the fact that Greendale is actually a community college and not some sort of avant-garde interactive circus that you’ve all been convinced to partake in unknowingly.”

Jeff took a sip of his drink, shaking his head. “You and me both, Willy. You and me both.”

Much of the rest of the night was spent explaining the group’s various escapades to Willy, from the first paintball to dictator Chang to the sci-fi movie they filmed. Eventually, everyone headed home, excited for their impending trip to Italy.

* * *

A bit over a week later, they all boarded a water taxi from Venice Marco Polo Airport to the city of Venice proper. Once the boat was underway, Jeff leaned against the railing and marveled at his surroundings. As the boat left the canal from the airport and entered the lagoon, the city of Venice swam into view on the horizon, the islands of Murano to their left. The burnt sienna of the roofs of the city stood out against the pale blue sky and the dark olive of the lagoon.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Annie slipped her arm through Jeff’s, leaning against his shoulder.

“Yeah. It is.” Jeff was practically speechless. 

As the boat traffic around them picked up, and the water taxi turned along the coast, Troy leaned over towards Jeff. “Not a bad first time out of Colorado, huh?”

Jeff chuckled. “Not bad at all.” After soaking in the view for a few more moments, he tore himself away and turned towards the rest of the group. “So, Troy, where’d you book for us to stay?”

“Oh, I actually hired someone to book everything for us. Gilbert recommended a travel agent that he uses for business trips. I guess they found us an apartment on the Grand Canal to stay in? The pictures they showed me looked really nice.” 

As the water taxi pulled onto the Grand Canal, the boat traffic increased dramatically. Annie tugged at Jeff’s arm and pointed towards a gondola gliding past. The gondolier, dressed in dark pants, a red and white striped shirt, and wide-brimmed straw hat, sang to a couple seated in front of him. “It’s all so romantic!”

Jeff chuckled softly and smiled. “Yeah, I guess it is. We might have to go for a ride in one of those.” He leaned down and gave Annie a kiss.

“Do you know how far we are from Campo San Barnaba, Troy? The library from  _ The Last Crusade _ ? I don’t want to miss it!” Abed asked insistently. “I even brought my whip and fedora!”

“It’s about a twenty-minute walk. I made sure to ask just for you, buddy.” Troy and Abed performed their special handshake.

A short while later, the water taxi pulled into a small dock. Everyone climbed out of the boat as Troy went and spoke with a shorter Italian man standing in the archway of a nearby building. Eventually, the speaking turned to wild gesticulation and miming before understanding finally crossed the other man’s face.

Once the exchange between the two had finished, Troy came back. “Sorry, that took a bit. I guess he didn’t speak any English.” He began to hand out keys to everyone. “There are three bedrooms, so I figure Annie and Jeff can have the master suite, Britta and Willy can share the bigger of the two bedrooms, and Abed and I can take the last bedroom if you guys are all okay with that.”

“Troy,” Britta was taken aback. “You  _ paid  _ for all of this. You shouldn’t have to take the last bedroom.”

“Yeah, Troy,” Jeff added. “You should take the master bedroom. Annie and I will take the bigger bathroom.”

“Exactly, you-hey!” Britta turned towards Jeff sharply. “Why should Willy and I have to take the smallest bedroom? Why don’t you and Annie take it?”

As Jeff opened his mouth to respond, Troy cut in. “Guys, it’s okay. The bedroom I was going to have Abed and I take has a bunk bed. I thought it’d be like old times. The four of you can figure out where you’re going to sleep on your own if you don’t like my idea.”

“Well, I think Jeff and I should get the master suite,” Annie began. “After all, Jeff’s the oldest.” Jeff gave Annie a pained look, to which she mouthed  _ sorry _ . “And Jeff and I have been together longer.”

“Yeah, well I think Willy and I should get the master suite because our relationship’s fresher. We need more room for activities and...stuff,” Britta shot back.

Annie and Jeff both grimaced in distaste. “Way to keep it classy, Britta,” Jeff replied. “I think we should just stick with the original plan for who’s sleeping in what bedroom. I’m sure Troy had his reasons.”

Britta rolled her eyes. “Wow, shockingly, Jeff wants the biggest bedroom. What do you think Willy?”

Willy started, having somewhat zoned out. “Oh, um…” He looked around awkwardly. “I actually kind of agree with Jeff and Annie…”

Britta glared at Willy, her mouth puckered. “Fine. Jeff and Annie can have the master suite,” she retorted sharply.

With sleeping arrangements settled, everyone gathered their bags and headed inside. The apartment they would be staying in was on the third floor of the building and as they made their way up the stairs, Jeff pulled Willy aside. 

“Hey, I appreciate you siding with me on the whole room thing, but let me give you a piece of brotherly advice: in the future, it’s generally considered a good idea to side with your girlfriend on things like that.”

Willy looked at Jeff quizzically for a moment before the realization hit him. “Oh! Okay! Good to know.” Willy looked around. Seeing that the rest of the group was up the stairs a bit, he turned back towards Jeff. “I actually had a question for you about Britta, since you two are really good friends and used to hook-up and stuff.”

Jeff sighed. “If this is about that one thing she likes to do sometimes, just remind her to trim her fingernails and give you a bit of warning beforehand.”

Willy briefly looked very confused. “Oh, no, it’s not about that. But thanks, I guess. I was kind of wondering if she  _ actually  _ wants to get married someday or not. She came over after work one night really drunk and kept talking about how she was going to plan the best wedding ever and then she’d just sob while talking about floral arrangements and archways.”

“Oh, that. Yeah. She does that. She’s just weirdly good at planning weddings, and I guess it just fucks with her head a bit, you know? Why do you ask?” Jeff cocked an eyebrow. “Were you thinking of…?”

“Oh! No, no! Well...not yet,” Willy shook his head, laughing. “I was just really confused by it and was wondering if you had any insight.”

Jeff and Willy chatted a bit more about Britta’s eccentricities as they climbed the stairs to catch up with the rest of the group. At the top of the stairway, they found everyone standing around, waiting for them. With everyone together, they entered the apartment, the only one on the third floor. Just inside the door was a very well furnished entryway that led to a spacious living room. At the far end of the room was a doorway leading to a balcony that looked out over the Grand Canal. To the right of the entryway was a hall leading to the bedrooms. On the left was an arched doorway leading to the dining room and kitchen. 

“Holy crap, Troy! This place is really nice,” Annie exclaimed as she wandered down the hall and into the master suite.

Troy shrugged. “The pictures made it look smaller.”

Jeff followed after Annie, grabbing their bags from the entryway. The master suite was a little over twice the size of Jeff and Annie’s bedroom in Colorado. A king-size bed sat against one wall with a small fireplace opposite it. A pair of couches separated by a low mahogany coffee table occupied an open space near the door while a wide wooden desk sat against the same wall as the bed. Two doors sat along the wall with the fireplace. One door led to a large, empty walk-in closet while the other led to a spacious bathroom.

“Jeff, come here!” Annie called from the bathroom. “You gotta see this!”

Jeff set their bags down by the door and headed into the bathroom. The room was roughly square and had recently been remodeled. The floor and vanity were made of deep blue marble, while the walls were painted so that they faded from a matching blue at the bottom to white at the top. In one corner sat a wide, deep spa tub set into a raised platform made of the same marble as the floor. Above the tub were a pair of casement windows that provided a breathtaking view of the city. Next to the tub was a large glass shower stall. Finally, a toilet, bidet, and mahogany wardrobe sat opposite the vanity.

“Jesus,” Jeff muttered as he looked around the room. “This place is incredible.”

“Look at this tub!” Annie exclaimed as she grabbed Jeff’s wrist and tugged him over towards the tub. “Maybe we could take a bath later.” Annie placed a hand on his chest and grinned at him suggestively.

“Well, it’d be a real waste if we didn’t, now, wouldn’t it?” Jeff grinned back at Annie as he leaned down and kissed her fervidly. 

As they kissed, Jeff and Annie groped their way back into the bedroom, bouncing off the wall before finally falling onto the bed. They quickly lost track of time, enraptured by their passion for each other. Eventually, they heard a knock on the door to the suite.

“Hey! Are you two coming out of there anytime soon?” Willy called through the door.

“Yeah! Just a sec!” Annie called back as she rolled off the bed. Tugging her shirt back into place, she did her best to fix her hair as she grabbed Jeff’s shirt off the floor, tossing it at him.

Catching it with his face, Jeff began to pull it on. “You sure we can’t keep them waiting a bit longer? We were just starting to get to the good part.”

Annie gave Jeff a peck on the corner of his mouth. “That’d be rude, Jeff. Plus, you know it’s always better when I make you wait.” She winked at him as she walked towards the door.

“That is true…” Jeff mumbled as he followed her, buttoning up his shirt as he went. Back in the living room, the rest of the group was discussing their plans for the rest of the day. 

“Abed! We can go to the Indiana Jones library later!” Britta pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “Why don’t we go to a museum or something? There’s so much culture and history here, we should take advantage of it!”

“The library from _The Last Crusade_ **is** a museum!” Abed shot back. 

“Oh,” Britta leaned back, a bit embarrassed. “Well in that case…”

“I was thinking Jeff and I might try to go on a gondola ride,” Annie cut in. “Did you and Willy want to join us, Britta?”

Before Britta could respond, Jeff looked at Annie sheepishly. “I kinda wanted to go to the Indiana Jones library too…”

“Me too…” Willy piped up from next to Britta. 

Annie sighed heavily. “Seriously?” Jeff and Willy both nodded. “Fine! We can go to the Indiana Jones library.”

“So it’s decided,” Abed concluded. “We’re going to Campo San Barnaba!” He ran to grab his bullwhip and fedora.

Heading back down the stairs and out into the city, the group made their way through the winding Venetian streets, crossing over several smaller canals. They stopped for gelato near a large brick church, which they later identified as the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. As none of them spoke any Italian, and Troy had forgotten to pack the universal translator that he’d been given for his sea voyage around the world, they had to resort to a combination of pointing, crude sign language, and the age-old tradition of American tourists: speaking very loudly and very slowly in English. As they left the gelato stop, the employee serving them bid them farewell in English.

Continuing on their way, they passed through a plaza with several trees dispersed throughout before crossing one last canal. To their left, they could see the medieval church, its columns framing the arched door that sat under a simple pediment that mirrored the facade of the roof above. Excitedly, or at least as excitedly as he did anything, Abed hurried towards the front of the building.

As he got close, a group of men in white polos, navy blue pants, and matching berets took notice of him. “Signore! Polizia! Fermare!” Abed turned towards the men as the rest of the group caught up to him. “Non puoi prendere una frusta nel museo!” Abed looked at the man blankly. “La tua frusta! Non puoi portarlo dentro!”

“I’m sorry. I don’t speak Italian,” Abed replied. “Do you speak English? Czy mówisz po polsku? 'Aw rubama earabi?”

The officer looked at Abed for a moment. “I speak English, and a bit of Arabic, though I’m afraid it’s a bit rusted.” The rest of the men relaxed a bit. “Unfortunately, sir, you cannot take your whip into the museum.”

“Oh, sorry.” Abed looked around for something to do with his whip. “Does this happen a lot?”

The man sighed, nodding. “I’ve been told they’re going to put up a sign, but so far, there is nothing.”

As the rest of the group watched this exchange, Troy turned towards Jeff. “Did you tell Frankie that I play steel drums?” 

“Yeah,” Jeff replied.

“Awesome,” Troy said, his eyes wide.

Eventually, Abed finished speaking with the officer and turned towards the group. “Hey, can one of you guys hold my whip?”

“I’ll hold onto it for you, Abed.” Annie took the whip from Abed. “I still don’t know why you thought you’d be allowed inside with it, but I guess that’s moot at this point.”

“I stay out here with you,” Jeff told Annie.

“But didn’t you want to see it too?” Annie asked.

“It’s okay. We can come back later,” Jeff replied.

While Britta, Willy, Troy, and Abed went into the church, the two of them went to the edge of the canal and sat down. Annie slipped her shoes off and was about to dip her feet in the water when a passerby stopped her, warning her that the water tended to not be very clean.

“Well that kind of ruins the whole image of the city, huh?” Jeff looked down the length of the canal, watching a small boat head their way.

“Not really. It’s still all so beautiful,” Annie interlaced her fingers with Jeff’s, leaning up against him. “I still can’t believe we’re here!”

“Yeah,” Jeff chuckled. “Me neither.” Jeff looked around the square, noticing a small café off to one side. “Let’s go get some coffee.” He stood and then helped Annie to her feet.

They made their way to the café. After a bit of struggling to order, they got their coffee and sat down at a table just outside. They sat and watched the square as they waited for the others to finish up in the church. 

After a little over an hour, they saw the others come out of the church and got up to go meet them. Together, they began to walk the city, eventually finding themselves lost in the narrow, labyrinthine streets. After several hours of wandering, the group finally found themselves near the Grand Canal as the sun began to set.

“Okay, guys,” Troy stopped everyone. “I think I can figure out how to get us back to the apartment from here.” He then turned and began to walk along the canal, getting about fifteen steps along before stopping and turning around to head in the complete opposite direction.

A bit further down the canal, Jeff stopped, doing a double-take at someone passing by. “Chang?”

Chang stopped and turned towards the group. “Heeeey, guys. What are you doing here?”

“We’re on vacation. What are you doing here?” Jeff replied.

“Oh, me too,” Chang replied awkwardly.

The tall, sharply featured man accompanying Chang sighed in annoyance. “Ben, were you going to introduce me to your friends?”

“Oh, yeah. Guys, this is Rodrigo. Rodrigo, this is Jeff, Annie, Britta, Troy, Abed, and…” Chang stopped when he got to Willy. “Wongo?”

“Willy.” Willy corrected Chang.

“Seriously, Chang? Wongo? That’s not even a name!” Jeff reprimanded Chang.

“Charmed, I’m sure.” Rodrigo cut in before Chang could respond to Jeff. 

“So, how do you two know each other?” Annie asked.

“Oh, Rodrigo’s my boyfriend,” Chang replied nonchalantly.

“Oh,” The group looked at each other before collectively shrugging. 

“I’d love to catch up, but Rodrigo and I have plans, so we gotta run.” Before anyone could say anything, Chang and Rodrigo left.

Everyone stood in silence for a few moments. “Well that was weird,” Abed said. “And that’s coming from me.”

“You know, I’d figured that after close to seven years, Chang would’ve run out of new ways to surprise us,” Jeff opined.

“I don’t know, I think it’s sweet,” Annie said. “They looked happy together.”

“I’m just surprised he was serious when he told us he was gay!” Britta added.

“Why would Chang lie about that?” Troy asked 

“I guess I just figured since he was married to a woman and all,” Britta replied

“Oscar Wilde was married, Britta,” Annie said as they got back underway. Shortly, they arrived back at the apartment and headed upstairs. Once inside, they gathered in the living room to discuss their plans for dinner.

“I saw a few restaurants nearby we could try,” Britta mentioned. “I think there was a pizzeria, a couple of places that serve pasta, and a Chinese restaurant.”

“The kitchen’s also pretty well stocked, so we could just eat here if we don’t want to get lost again,” Willy added. “I could cook us something.”

“Do you know how to make buttered noodles?” Abed asked.

“Yes,” Willy replied, confused. “You cook noodles and add butter.”

“Buttered noodles are my favorite,” Abed added.

“Abed, you didn’t come all the way to Italy to eat buttered noodles,” Jeff chided.

Annie stood up. “I’m going to let you guys figure this out. I need to go take a shower,” she kissed Jeff on the corner of the mouth. “Let me know what you decide on.” 

Jeff watched Annie leave while the others discussed their dinner plans. Once he heard the door shut, he turned back towards the group.

“So it’s decided!” Britta declared. “We’re going to have pizza!”

“Awesome,” Jeff replied. “Can you guys keep something a secret for me?”

“Yeah,” Troy replied. “Remember how you didn’t know that Abed and I were using your Netflix account? Or that we’d used your shower? Or about that time I accidentally spilled your scotch and replaced it with apple juice?”

“What? When? Which scotch?” Jeff looked at Troy irately.

“Uh, nevermind,” Troy replied before pretending to be asleep.

“Okay, we can talk about  _ that _ later,” Jeff acknowledged. “Right now I need your guys’ help with something.”

* * *

The night before their flight back to Colorado, Jeff and Annie went out to enjoy Venice one last time, just the two of them. After wandering the city for a bit, Jeff paid for them to take a gondola ride.

As the gondolier steered them through the canals and sang a song, Jeff and Annie took in the views of the city. “God, Jeff,” Annie leaned against his shoulder. “I can’t believe how beautiful this city is!”

“Yeah,” Jeff nodded. “I still can’t believe Troy paid for all of us to come here. Or that we ran into Chang.”

“Look, Jeff, I know it might be difficult, being that this is one of the most romantic cities  _ on the planet _ ,” Annie looked up at Jeff wryly.”But I’m gonna need you to tone down the mushy business a bit.”

Jeff laughed. “Okay, okay. Point taken. The city really is beautiful,” he looked down at her. “I’m glad I got to come here with you.”Annie smiled up at him and snuggled in closer. 

As they approached the Ponte Rialto, the gondolier pulled up to a jetty. Jeff and Annie climbed off the boat and Jeff handed the man a few Euros. They followed the edge of the Grand Canal until they came to the foot of the Ponte Rialto. They climbed the steps and stood at the apex, leaning against the balustrade.

“This trip has just been perfect,” Annie sighed as she looked out at the city. “I don’t think anything could make this better.”

“Yeah,” Jeff swallowed hard, toying with the small box in his pocket. “Me neither.” 

Annie turned to look at Jeff. “Is everything okay?”

Jeff gripped the box hard. “Yeah, yeah.” He let go of the box, pulling his hand out of his pocket and grabbing Annie’s. “Let’s walk around a bit. I want to get one last good look at the city before we leave tomorrow.”

Jeff and Annie moved to the center of the bridge, walking past the various vendor stalls and down onto the street. They wandered through Venice’s streets, hand in hand, stopping to take in the sights. Along the way, they stopped and a bottle of wine. When they finally wound their way back through the labyrinthine streets to the apartment, Annie stopped Jeff outside.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been uncharacteristically quiet this whole trip.” Annie looked at Jeff, her eyebrows drawn together and raised in concern.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’ve just been so blown away by everything to have much to say,” Jeff replied as he looked up at the sky absentmindedly, his hands buried in his pockets.

“Okay,” Annie said, unconvinced. “Promise you’ll tell me if there  _ is  _ anything wrong?”

Jeff looked down at Annie, smiling reassuringly. “I promise. Now, let’s head upstairs. We never did take that bath you wanted.”

Annie smirked back at Jeff playfully, pressing her finger against his chest. “Nice hot bath and bottle of good wine? You know just how to treat a girl, don’t you?”

“I have my moments,” Jeff replied, his smile turning to a mirthful grin.

Annie grabbed the lapels of Jeff’s jacket and pulled him into a kiss forcefully. “Yes, you do,” she agreed before turning and heading inside. Just across the threshold of the building, she turned and looked Jeff in the eye. “Well, are you coming or am I going to have to get started without you?’ Without waiting for his response, Annie turned and headed upstairs, a noticeable bounce in her step.

Jeff stood still for a second, stupefied, before snapping back to his senses and hurrying after Annie, practically tripping over himself as he ran up the stairs.


	8. I Wanted Everyone to Know You’re The Girl For Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff takes a leap of faith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was able to get this chapter written and edited much quicker than normal, which I'm very happy about.
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for reading, I deeply appreciate it.
> 
> I welcome any and all feedback you may have for me.
> 
> Enjoy!

Despite the door being open, Jeff still knocked before entering Frankie’s office. “Hey, Frankie, do you have a minute?”

Frankie looked up from her computer. “Of course, Jeff. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I was kind of hoping I could get your advice on something,” Jeff said as he took a seat across the desk from her.

“Certainly, Jeff,” Frankie replied. “What’s on your mind?”

“Well, it’s about me and Annie,” Jeff sighed.

“Oh, I see.” Frankie gave Jeff a look that reminded him far too much of his therapist. “Did something happen between the two of you?”

“No. It’s just the opposite, in fact. Things have been going great. And, well, I’ve been thinking about asking her to marry me.” Jeff leaned back in the chair, a nervous and mildly pained look on his face.

“And you’re worried that it might be a mistake?” Jeff was starting to wonder if Frankie and his therapist were related somehow. Cousins, maybe?

“Yeah. I mean, I still remember what you said to me when Annie and I first started dating. I mean, she hasn’t said anything to me about it, but there’s still a part of me, just at the back of my mind, that wonders if I’m holding her back.” Jeff shifted in his seat. 

“Well, at the end of the day, there’s  _ really _ only one person that can answer that question for you,” Frankie said. “However, I think I might be able to help you look at this situation with a bit more objectivity.”

“Thanks.” Jeff wasn’t sure if coming to Frankie had been a good idea anymore, but he figured he should hear her out. 

“For starters, you said things are going great. I can believe that. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. Plus it seems like Annie’s genuinely helped you become a better teacher. Is that fair to say?” Frankie pulled out a notepad and wrote some things down.

“Yeah, that’s pretty accurate.” Jeff leaned forward, looking at Frankie’s writing. “What are you writing down?” He almost asked if she knew his therapist then and there.

“I find that in situations like this, where I’m unsure of what course of action to take, it helps to list the pros and cons.” Frankie turned the notepad around, letting Jeff get a good look. She’d divided the page into two columns, one labeled **Benefits,** and the other labeled **Drawbacks**. Under the **Benefits** column, Frankie had listed ‘make each other happy’, ‘makes him a better teacher’, and ‘taken Jeff = Craig less distracted’. Under the **Drawbacks** column, she’d written _‘_ may hold her back(?) _’_.

“Ahh, got it.” Jeff nodded.

“Is there anything else you’d like me to add to either column?” Frankie asked.

“Well, she makes me more than just a better teacher. She makes me a better man,” Jeff admitted.

“Interesting. How so?” Frankie wrote down ‘better man’ under  **Benefits** .

“Annie makes me want to put more effort into things. It used to be that when I wanted something, I’d find the easiest way I could to get it. Now, I’m willing to do the work, especially if it’s for her.” Jeff began to chuckle. “Hell, I even helped Shirley set up her new entertainment system, and neither she nor Annie had to guilt  _ or  _ bribe me into doing it!”

“That  _ is _ generous of you.” Frankie ribbed Jeff, smiling slightly. “Anything else?”

“Well, there are a few other things, but I don’t know if it’d be appropriate to talk about them with you.” Jeff grinned at Frankie. In the face of her withering disappointment, his grin quickly faded. “But in all seriousness, she helps me feel better about, well, everything. She’s even got me to drink less. I mean, when I’m with her, the world literally seems brighter. Like, someone went through campus and replaced all of the burnt-out bulbs.”

“Oh, as a matter of fact, I had the custodians take care of that.” Frankie wrote one last thing down on her notepad. “Well, Jeff, it’s pretty clear to me that the two of you are good for each other, despite my initial concerns. So I guess I have to ask you, what are you worried about? I’ve seen her wedding binder. Annie wants to get married. You make her happy. Everything seems right. What are you so unsure of?”

Jeff sighed heavily. “I’m not sure. I guess I’m just scared.”

“Well, Jeff, I’m no romantic.” Frankie’s voice was soft and even. “But I do know that sometimes loving someone can be scary and that sometimes you have to put aside that fear to do what’s right.”

Jeff nodded, taking in what Frankie had said. “Thank you, Frankie. You’ve been a great help.”

Frankie smiled at Jeff. “Of course, Jeff. Any time.” Jeff turned to leave. “Oh, and I hope, for both your sakes, that she says yes.”

* * *

Jeff pulled up to Señor Kevin’s and parked next to Shirley’s minivan. As he walked into the restaurant, Shirley waved him down from a booth.

“Jeffrey! It’s so good to see you. I feel like you’ve been avoiding me!”

Jeff laughed uncomfortably. “I haven’t been avoiding you. What would make you think that?”

“Oh, no reason. What did you need to talk to Andre about a few weeks ago?” Shirley had started using what Andre referred to as her ‘sexy voice’.

“Oh, uh, nothing, really. I just needed his advice on something.” Jeff had forgotten just how easily Shirley could make him guilty over nothing. “How are things with you and Andre, by the way?”

“And you didn’t think you could talk to me about it, Jeffrey?”

Disappointed that his attempt to change the subject, Jeff slipped his phone from his pocket, flipping it around in his hands. “Not really. It was a guy thing.”

“A guy thing you couldn’t have discussed with Troy or Abed? Or Professor Duncan?” Shirley's tone began to harshen.

“Again, not really. It’s not something they’d be able to help with.” Jeff sighed. “It was a guy thing that required a certain level of maturity and experience with the issue at hand.”

“Jeff, stop screwing around. What in the Lord’s name did you have to talk to _ Andre, specifically, _ about?” Shirley leaned in and gave Jeff a very displeased look.

“You’re really gonna make me say it, aren’t you?” Jeff groaned. “I was worried Annie was pregnant and so I went to Andre because he’s the best father I know.”

“Oh,” Shirley said, surprised. “And?”

“He gave me some really good advice,” Jeff replied, ignoring Shirley’s intended question.

“That’s not what I meant, Jeff.” Shirley gave Jeff another disproving look.

“I know,” Jeff said, his tone beginning to acquire a bit of edge. “No, Shirley, Annie is not pregnant, thank God.”

“Well, that’s good, I guess,” Shirley replied, almost sounding disappointed.

“Yeah. I don’t know that I’d be much of a father,” Jeff said.

“I’m not so sure about that, Jeff. You have better paternal instincts than you think.” Shirley waved for the waiter. “I was more worried about you two not being married. I mean, you’re already living in sin.”

Jeff briefly dropped the conversations as the waiter took their orders. Once he had left, he sighed heavily. “That’s actually why I asked you to have lunch with me.”

Shirley’s eyes widened. “Jeff, are you saying what I think you’re saying? Are you telling me you want to ask her to…” She trailed off.

“To marry me? Yeah, I am.” Jeff leaned back in his chair. Shirley clenched her mouth shut to stifle her excited squeal. Doing his best to ignore her outburst, Jeff continued. “But I’m worried about it. Like maybe I’m making a mistake or moving too fast.”

Shirley composed herself. “Jeff, I’ve seen the way you two look at each other and I’ve seen how happy you make each other. You’re not making a mistake. As for moving too fast…” Shirley stopped for a second as the waiter brought their drink orders. “You’ve known each other for close to seven years now. And despite your best efforts to hide it, you two have clearly been in love with each other for a good chunk of that. So I don’t think you’re moving too fast. If anything, I think you’ve both been dragging your feet for far too long.”

“And here I thought you didn’t even like us as a couple,” Jeff snarked.

“I will admit that part of me always figured you and Britta would settle down with each other eventually, but after seeing how happy you and Annie are together, and how happy Britta is with your brother, I can’t argue with it.” Shirley shrugged. “Of course, I don’t think you’re really worried about moving too fast. I think there’s something else bothering you.”

“What is it with moms and always being right?” Jeff groaned.

“It comes with the territory, Jeffrey. Now, seriously, what’s bothering you?”

Jeff fiddled with his phone a bit more before looking up at the ceiling, sighing. “I’m scared.”

“What are you scared of? I’m sure Annie will say yes.” Shirley’s voice had begun to remind him a bit too much of his mother’s, which started to make him feel guilty that he hadn’t spoken to her since Thanksgiving.

“I don’t know. Everything?” He looked down from the ceiling and met Shirley’s gaze. “I mean, what if I’m not good enough? What if I’m just another shitty husband who cuts and runs? Or a deadbeat dad? What if I hold her back? Ever since I decided to propose, I’ve had all these thoughts running through my mind nonstop, all these ways I could fuck things up. I want to be with her so badly, but I’m constantly worried that I’m going to make a mistake, or that I haven’t really changed all that much and that I’m still that guy I was before I ended up at Greendale. Or worse, what if I turn into my dad?”

Shirley nodded along as Jeff spoke, carefully taking his words into consideration. “Well, Jeff, I can’t promise you that everything is always going to turn out perfectly, or that you won’t make mistakes, but I can promise you that as long as you love that woman, and you try your best, it’ll have been worth it.”

“How can you be  _ sure _ ?” Jeff pleaded. “I mean, there’s just too much that’s unknown.”

“How can I be sure?” Shirley chuckled a little. “I can’t. But I can have faith in you, and in Annie. And I can remind you to have faith in yourself. I mean, all love is, is a leap of faith. It’s knowing that even though you’re stepping into the darkness and the unknown, that you have someone there with you. Someone to catch you if you fall. And what you’re about to do? All that is, is telling the person you’ve found that you want them there with you through everything. So no, I can’t be sure that everything will be effortless, that you won’t make mistakes, and I can’t be sure that you’ll be perfect, but I can be sure that you’ll be okay.”

Jeff sat in silence, unsure of how to respond to Shirley. After a few minutes, the waiter dropped off their food. “But what do I do if I mess up? I mean, I kind of have a history of it.”

Shirley chuckled again as she bit into her burrito, chewing and swallowing the bite before speaking. “Then you do the best any of us can do: you apologize, you make amends, and you hope the Good Lord gives her the grace to forgive you.”

“Like you forgave Andre?” Jeff picked at his salad contemplatively.

“Like Andre and I forgave  _ each other _ ,” Shirley replied. “I spent the longest time acting like I was blameless in everything that happened the first time around, and when I finally accepted that I wasn’t, I thought things were going to be perfect the second time. When they weren’t, it hit me like a freight train. I almost started drinking again, you know.” Shirley looked down at her plate. “But, thanks to you and the rest of the study group, not to mention a certain someone, I managed to right myself. And now…” Shirley took a deep breath. “I want things back to the way they used to be. I want Andre, the kids, and me to all be living together under the same roof again, but we both know we can’t rush it. So we’re taking it slow. We go to see a counselor every week. We actually talk about things before they become a problem.”

“You two are trying things out again?” Jeff noticed the tears beginning to form at the corners of Shirley’s eyes.

“Yeah, we are.” Shirley dabbed her eyes with her napkin. “And this will probably make me sound like Abed, but just like in Bill Murray in  _ Groundhog Day _ , we’ll keep doing it over and over again until we get it right.”

Jeff laughed a little. “You’re right, you do sound like Abed. But I’m starting to think that’s not always such a bad thing. He does seem to have us all worked out better than we do ourselves.”

Shirley laughed as well. “Yeah, he really does sometimes.”

The two spent the rest of their lunch catching up. Jeff regaled Shirley with stories of his various classes as well as how things had been going with him and Annie. Shirley, in turn, caught Jeff up on her relationship with Andre and how things were with her sandwich shops. Jeff even managed to show some sincere interest in how her sons had been doing in school.

As they headed out to their cars, Jeff stopped Shirley. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Of course, Jeffrey. You know, we should do this more often.” She smiled at him.

“Yeah, we should.” Jeff wrapped Shirley in a fierce hug before letting her climb into her van.

* * *

Jeff grabbed the two glasses of beer from the bar and made his way over to where Britta was sitting. 

“Thanks for buying,” Britta said as he sat down. “We could’ve drunk free at The Vatican, but you insisted we come here instead.”

“I know. I wanted us to be able to have a drink, just the two of us. Not have to worry about running into anyone we know.” Jeff took a sip of his beer.

Britta cocked an eyebrow. “You got something you want to tell me, Winger?”

Jeff smirked and rolled his eyes. “Nah, I just wanted us to be able to talk. It’s been forever since the two of us had a chance to chat, one-on-one.”

“Okay, but if you try and pull anything, I will remind you that you’re dating one of my best friends  _ and _ I’m dating your brother,” Britta replied sardonically.

“Don’t worry, Britta. I’m not going to try and pull anything. Need  _ I _ remind  _ you _ that I’m planning on proposing to my girlfriend? Who, I might add, is amazing and doesn’t use my toothbrush without asking.”

“Oh, come on! That was one time!” Britta objected. 

“Hey, you know the old saying: you can build a thousand bridges before they’ll call you a bridge builder, but…” Jeff grinned.

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t need to finish it.” Britta took a swig of her beer. “But seriously, Jeff Winger is planning on asking a girl to marry him! And this time it isn’t even for petty revenge, because he’s drunk, or because a sandwich chain is buying his school!”

“Yeah, I guess I’m all grown up,” Jeff snarked. 

“Seriously, I’m really happy for you. You know she’s going to say yes. She probably won’t even let you finish whatever speech you have prepared.” Britta took this turn to grin back at Jeff.

“Yeah. You’re probably right. And thanks. It means a lot to hear you say that. Especially given how you felt about me and Annie dating in the first place.” Jeff looked at his beer.

“Yeah, well, maybe I was a bit of an ass about it.” The two sat in silence for a minute. “So, are you freaking out? I mean, this would be a big step for anyone, let alone Mr. Jeff ‘marriage is a lie’ Winger.”

“Honestly? Yeah, I’ve been losing my damn mind about this whole thing. I mean, this may shock you to hear, but despite my outward confidence, I harbor a lot of self-doubt.” Jeff chuckled to himself.

“Oh, trust me, Jeff. I’ve known you long enough to know just how much of a wreck you are, psychologically. And for the record, I like you much better  _ with _ self-doubt than without.” Britta took a drink. “I mean, you ruined a bar mitzvah. A bar mitzvah, Jeff.”

“Okay, I guess I deserve that after the toothbrush dig.” Jeff shrugged. “Still, I mean, I’m just really worried that I’ll screw things up, you know? Even after talking to Frankie and Shirley about it.”

“Well, Jeff, take it from someone whose name is used to denote screw-ups: they’re inevitable. The best thing you can do is make peace with that fact and learn from the mistakes you make.” Britta eyed Jeff. “You just invited me out so I could make you feel better about yourself, didn’t you?”

“Look, as effortlessly as you do that, I actually thought it might be nice for us to spend some time together like we did last summer.” Jeff leaned back. “If you don’t want to talk about my issues, we could talk about how things are going with you and Willy.”

“Shah! I’m sure you’d just  _ love _ to hear all about my relationship with your brother.” Britta rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, I kind of would, as long as you don’t give me too many details,” Jeff replied. “I mean, you two have been together for a bit now, and you seem to be really happy together.”

“Remind me to thank Annie for turning you into an actual human being,” Britta sniped. “But, since you are showing some genuine interest, things have been going great. We get along really well, and Willy actually seems to appreciate it when I offer him my therapeutic advice.”

Jeff snorted into his beer. “Oh God, I should have warned him about that. You’re going to mess him up worse than living with my dad ever could.” 

“Oh, screw you, Jeff!” Britta shot back. 

“I’m kidding. I’m certain nothing you do could be worse than what my dad did.” Jeff grinned. “But seriously, I’m really glad things are going well for you two. It’s nice to see you happy.”

“Thanks.” Britta stared down at the table for a minute. “You sure you’re ready to get engaged?”

“Not even a little,” Jeff said matter-of-factly. “But I’m pretty sure if I wait until I  _ am  _ ready, I’ll be waiting a really long time. And Annie deserves better than that. Hell, she probably deserves better than  _ me _ .”

“Don’t you get all morose on me, Jeff!” Britta locked eyes with Jeff. “You and Annie are perfect for each other.”

“Yeah. I guess.” Jeff replied. 

“Seriously, Jeff, if you get all weird and mopey, I will make you do shots until you forget your name again.” Britta glared at Jeff.

“Again?” Jeff gave Britta a concerned look.

“Do you remember Troy’s birthday party Junior year?” Britta gave Jeff an awkward smile.

“I remember Pierce saying something racist as he pulled out a bottle of tequila, and then I remember waking up the next day feeling like I’d been kicked in the head repeatedly. Why? What else happened?” Jeff cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, not much. Just you sang karaoke and then tried to bench Abed,” Britta mumbled under her breath. “We ended up calling you a cab once you had convinced yourself that your dad was really Lou Ferrigno.”

“Wait, I  _ tried _ to bench Abed? I can  _ definitely _ bench Abed!” Jeff huffed indignantly.

“Yeah, but he got all wriggly,” Britta replied. “You couldn’t keep a good grip.”

From there, the two of them continued to argue about which of the study group members Jeff would have been able to bench. Jeff was convinced that he could bench any of them, at one point trying to convince Britta to let him demonstrate. Several drinks later, they began to argue about the relative merits of Radiohead and Dave Matthews. Eventually, Jeff began to take a few jabs at the Barenaked Ladies, which then set Britta off, causing her to reveal that  _ If I Had $1000000 _ had been playing when she lost her virginity. Eventually, Annie arrived to drive them both home as Jeff began to loudly explain the importance of a thorough moisturizing regimen to the entire bar. As they dropped off Britta at her apartment, she hugged Annie aggressively, a huge, dopey grin plastered on her face.

“What was that about?” Annie asked Jeff as she sat back down behind the steering wheel.

“Wuh?” Jeff rolled his head to look at Annie.

“Britta was acting weird.”

“I‘unno,” Jeff grunted

“Okay then.” Annie shook her head in confusion as she pulled away from the curb.

* * *

That Friday, as Jeff and Annie walked from The Silver Dish to the car, Jeff sent a quick text to Troy.

_ Hey, everything ready? _

_ Yeah, Abed’s got everything set. Are you? _

Jeff stopped and looked at his phone for a minute before Annie called for him to hurry up.

_ As I’ll ever be. _

Once they were in the car and on their way, Jeff headed towards Greendale. “Hey, I forgot something in my office. Mind if we make a quick stop at Greendale?”

Annie eyed Jeff suspiciously. “You actually  _ want _ to go to Greendale when you don’t have to? Are you feeling okay?”

Jeff laughed. “Yeah, Annie, I’m fine. It’s just something really important.”

“Okay,” Annie replied. “If you insist.”

Once they arrived at Greendale, Jeff ran inside, grabbing a small box from his top desk drawer and slipped it into his jacket pocket before hustling back outside. Annie leaned against the passenger door. “Hey, since we’re here, why don’t we go for a little walk? Get some fresh air, you know?”

“Now you want to actually walk around campus? Are you  _ sure _ you’re not sick?” Annie questioned.

“Yes, I’m absolutely positive, Annie. I just thought it might be nice for us to go on a little walk.” Jeff rolled his eyes.

“Okay…” Annie climbed out of the car and took Jeff’s hand. They began to wander Greendale’s campus, eventually ending up outside the gymnasium. 

“Why don’t we go inside? We can relive our big debate victory over City College. Maybe even reenact our signature strategy?” Jeff raised his eyebrows at Annie flirtatiously.

“Jeff!” Annie gasped. “We can’t break into a building to make out!”

“Who said anything about breaking in? Craig had all the exterior doors keyed the same so he wouldn’t have to worry about carrying around a bunch of keys. And since I’m a teacher…” Jeff held up his keys, jiggling them.

“But what if someone sees us?” Annie retorted.

“Then I’ll tell them I’m a teacher showing his girlfriend around campus.” Jeff winked at Annie. “Plus, who do you think is going to catch us? Security mostly just watches cameras at night and the janitors don’t come in for another couple of hours.”

“Fine,” Annie sighed. “But if we get in trouble, I’m pinning this all on you!”

Jeff laughed as he walked up to the door and unlocked it. Pulling it open, he reached out his elbow. “M’lady?”

Annie shook her head, smiling. “M’lord.” She slipped her arm through his as they headed inside. 

Walking down the hall, they passed a badly dented trash can before heading out onto the basketball court. The bleachers were all retracted, stacked against the wall, and the platform that had sat in the middle of the court six years ago was long since gone. Still, Jeff remembered what it had looked like as though it had happened yesterday. Walking over to roughly where he remembered they had been standing.

“Remember the look on Jeremy Simmons’ face when I dropped him?” Jeff looked down at Annie.

“Yeah. Hell, I remember the looks on everyone’s faces!” Annie laughed.

“Well, yeah, you would’ve had a better view of the bleachers, since you were standing right…” Jeff gently but firmly gripped Annie’s shoulders and moved her around a bit before settling on a spot. “About here!”

Annie laughed again. “Yeah, and then I did this!” She grabbed Jeff’s face and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Jeff grabbed Annie’s hips and pulled her in close, savoring the warmth of her body as it pressed against his. As his hand slid up her thigh and under the hem of her dark purple dress, she pushed away and held Jeff off, despite his best attempts to prolong the kiss. “Hey! That’s as far as that kiss went, Jeff!” She playfully swatted at his chest.

Jeff leered at Annie before regaining his composure. “Yeah, I guess it is. Though I wouldn’t have minded if it had gone further.”

“No, I’m sure you wouldn’t have,” Annie teased. “Are there any more trips down memory lane you’d like to take? Or did you just want an excuse to grope me in the gym?”

“Well, I did have a couple more stops I wanted to make,” Jeff replied. “Shall we?” He extended his elbow for Annie again. Slipping her arm into it, the two of them set off. Walking back outside, they passed a covered path. Jeff pointed towards the end of the pathway. “That’s where I learned just how dangerous those doe-eyes of yours are.”

“Yeah. I know how to get you to do exactly what I want,” Annie stated authoritatively.

Jeff chuckled as they continued. Entering the cafeteria, Jeff stopped and looked around. “This is where you showed me just how ruthless you could be. I still want to know how you got a hold of my audition tape for  _ The Real World _ .”

“And give up all my secrets?’ Annie winked at Jeff mischievously.

“You got it from my mother, didn’t you?” Jeff squinted at Annie suspiciously.

“Maybe. Maybe not. You really should give Doreen a call though.” Annie started to walk out of the cafeteria and down a hallway, Jeff hurrying after her. She stopped and pointed at a supply closet. “That’s where you tried to convince me you were taking a conspiracy theory class.”

“And that’s where you seduced me into joining the Glee Club.” Jeff pointed to the costume room as they passed the theater department.

“Oh God! Don’t remind me!” Annie groaned.

“Hey, if you ditched the weird baby voice and song, it wouldn’t have been that bad,” Jeff replied.

“So basically, you want me to wear a sexy Santa outfit?” Annie looked at Jeff, her eyebrow raised. “That can be arranged.”

Jeff laughed. Shortly, they found themselves in Study Room F. They both stood and looked around the room. “And this is where I found out you had one hell of a mean right hook. But more importantly, this…” Jeff walked over and grabbed the back of his old chair. His hands had begun to shake a bit and he hoped Annie hadn’t noticed that he’d started to sweat. “This is where I fell in love with you. Bit by bit, piece by piece, I fell in love with you. Through all the long group study sessions and lost pens, until one day I woke up hopelessly, madly in love with you. And then I took that, and I packed it away in a box and put that box on a high shelf way at the back of my brain. Because you were Annie Edison. You were going to change the world. You were going to be the president. Or you were going to bring about world peace, or find the Zodiac Killer. And you wouldn't have time for ridiculously-handsome-lawyer-turned-ridiculously-handsome-community-college-teacher Jeff Winger.”

“Jeff?” Annie gave Jeff a slightly confused look. Somewhere outside, just within earshot, a string quartet began to play  _ Canon in D _ .

“Except I was wrong. You're still Annie Edison. And you're still going to change the world. But you did have time for ridiculously-handsome-lawyer-turned-ridiculously-handsome-community-college-teacher Jeff Winger.”

Jeff took Annie by the hand and led her outside and down the few steps in front of the library. “You saved my life, Annie. In more ways than I can count, you have saved my life. You are the light on my darkest days. You keep me honest. You take away my doubt. You are the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. Every day I get to spend with you is the best day of my life. I love you so much. I love every minute I get to spend with you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Tears glistened in the corners of Annie’s eyes. “Jeff.”

“I don’t have the words to tell you just how much I love or how much you mean to me. Maybe one day I will. Maybe I never will. But I want to spend the rest of my life showing you, every day, in every single way I can.” Annie clapped her hand over her mouth as Jeff pulled the small box from his pocket. “Annie Edison…” Jeff dropped to one knee and opened the box, revealing a four karat diamond ring. “Will you marry me?” 

“Yes!” Annie answered as tears streamed down her face, the widest smile Jeff had ever seen stretched across her face. Jeff slipped the ring onto her left ring finger before standing up, lifting Annie off her feet as he did. As they kissed, fireworks launched from behind the library. Jeff set Annie down after a few moments. She looked up and began to laugh, wiping the tears from her eyes. “So, I’m guessing you got Abed to set this all up for you?”

“Yeah. You deserved a cinematic proposal, and if there’s anyone who could set up something truly cinematic, it’d be Abed.” Jeff wrapped an arm around Annie’s shoulder, pulling her in tight. “How’d I do?”

Annie leaned her head against Jeff’s shoulder. “It was perfect.” She looked up at Jeff, standing up on her toes to give him a kiss. “I think you deserve a reward when we get home.” Annie bit her lower lip as she looked at Jeff seductively.

Jeff swept Annie up off her feet and began to carry her towards the car at a very brisk pace. About halfway there, he put her down, though he continued to pull her along, moving quickly. As he practically threw her into the passenger’s seat of the car, Jeff’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Walking around to the driver’s seat, he pulled it out and looked at it. Seeing he had a new email marked ‘urgent’, he opened it, finding an email from Dean Pelton entitled ‘Jeff Winger’s Engaged Dance, Saturday Night’. “How the hell did he do that already?” Jeff mumbled to himself as he sat down behind the steering wheel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading this and putting up with what ended up being a bit of my own musing on the nature of romantic love. 
> 
> I'm already over 1000 words into chapter 9, so I'm hoping I can keep up my accelerated writing pace for a bit, though I can't make any promises.


	9. All The Dead Seem To Know Where I Am

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ghost from Jeff's past shows up to haunt him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit on the shorter side, but it helps me set up some things I have planned.
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> I welcome any feedback you may have for me.
> 
> Enjoy!

Jeff sat in his office, reading over a few of his students' papers, as he thought about the previous weekend’s events. After his proposal, he and Annie had gone back to their apartment, Jeff practically blowing through several stoplights. Back at the apartment, they’d celebrated with a bottle of champagne that Jeff had secreted away for the occasion before Annie gave Jeff his reward, though Jeff had hoped it would have been twice. The next morning, after some serious cajoling from Annie, Jeff called his mother and told her the good news. After some more prodding, this time from both Doreen and Annie, Jeff asked his mother if she’d like to join them for dinner Sunday night.

After some mid-morning celebration, Jeff and Annie headed out to meet up with their friends at Troy, Abed, and Britta’s before going to the dance the Dean was throwing that evening. Shirley was ecstatic, practically crushing both of them in a vicious bear hug. Troy congratulated Jeff and Annie by offering to pay for the wedding, which, while Annie initially insisted they refuse, Jeff said they’d think about. Abed began discussing some of his favorite wedding tropes, asking if Jeff and Annie would be open to being married on a boat, if there was anyone they expected to interrupt their wedding, and if Jeff wanted to have a wild bachelor’s party the night before they married. Jeff again said that it was something they could talk about later. Surprisingly, Britta showed quite a bit of support for Jeff and Annie, even offering to help plan the wedding, albeit with a distinctly pained look on her face. As they went off to talk about it with Shirley, Jeff talked with Willy a bit, lightly teasing him about when he was going to ask Britta before thoroughly reassuring him that he was, in fact, joking. 

At the dance, Jeff kept a relatively low profile, accepting a handful of congratulations from some of his students as well as a few of his fellow faculty members that had decided to attend. Up until shortly before the end of the dance, Jeff had been surprised that he hadn’t seen Dean Pelton at all, though he had apologized to Frankie for the unnecessary waste of school funds. Frankie, however, informed him that the Dean had paid for everything out of pocket. Just as things began to wind down, Dean Pelton wheeled out a miniature wedding chapel while dressed in a short-sleeve cassock that ended just above his knees. When he attempted to convince Jeff and Annie to go through with the wedding then and there, announcing that he’d had himself ordained as a justice of the peace, it took the protestations of not only the newly engaged couple but also their friends and a decent chunk of the remaining attendees. Afterward, as Dean Pelton went off to sulk, Jeff and Annie followed him, thanking him for the thought and effort, but explaining, very clearly and concisely, that they wanted to do their wedding in a certain way, not in the Greendale cafeteria, and that they’d both really like it if some of their family could be there. When the Dean asked if he could officiate the ceremony, Jeff yet again found himself telling someone that they could discuss it. Later, once he and Annie got home, she assured him that under no circumstances would Dean Pelton be officiating their wedding, as nice of an offer as it had been.

Sunday was much more relaxed, Jeff and Annie both exhausted from the previous evening’s festivities, public and private. They slept in, though for Annie this meant getting up by 9:00 AM, as opposed to 7:30. Annie spent a good portion of the day pouring over her wedding binder, every so often calling Jeff over to ask his opinion on something before rolling her eyes and dismissing him when he gave a noncommittal answer. Jeff, conversely, spent most of the day watching TV and playing on his phone, every so often going over to Annie when she asked for his opinion, giving noncommittal answers in the hope that it would get him out of having to give too many opinions on things. Neither, however, was able to keep themself from smiling and sneaking kisses any time they were close enough for it.

When dinner rolled around, Jeff put on a grey suit, while Annie wore a green dress and matching shawl. When they picked up Doreen before heading to the restaurant, Annie moved to the backseat, offering to let Jeff’s mother sit in front. Instead, she decided to sit next to Annie in the back, which made Jeff incredibly nervous. Fortunately, Doreen mostly asked Annie about Jeff’s proposal during the car ride. Once they arrived at the restaurant, however, they began engaging in what Jeff would insist was a mild form of psychological torture and Doreen and Annie insisted was mild ribbing at worst, talking about what Jeff had been like as a child, his brief breakdancing phase in middle school, followed by his  _ Miami Vice _ phase. At the end of the night, Jeff swore Annie to secrecy, buying her silence through the promise of taking a greater level of interest in their wedding, as well as agreeing to certain favors at her request, not that Jeff really minded the second one.

As Jeff was thoroughly lost in thought, he failed to notice when a dark-haired woman in her mid-thirties entered his office. “Wow, Winger. When I’d heard you became a professor, I had to see this for myself.”

Jeff sat up straight, shaken from his reverie by the woman’s voice. “Can I help-” His voice caught in his throat in shock as he recognized the woman. “Michelle?”

“Nice to see you too, Jeff.” She pulled up the chair and sat down.

“Uh, yeah. How have you been?” Jeff asked, thoroughly caught off-guard by his ex-girlfriend’s sudden reappearance. 

“Not great, Jeff. Not great.” Slater gave Jeff an annoyed look. “After you bailed at that dance, I decided I needed to take some time off for myself, so I went on a Buddhist retreat a friend of my sister recommended. Turns out the whole thing was a front for a weird cult. I spent four years making lava lamps in a bunker somewhere in Wyoming. Eventually, the FBI shut the whole thing down, but by then I’d become what they called a ‘Level One Laser Lotus’, so the Feds thought I was one of them. After a few weeks, I finally managed to convince them I wasn’t a part of the cult and they cut me loose. Given that my life had essentially fallen apart, I moved back in with my mother for a while until I could get back on my feet. Now I have a job over at City College teaching statistics. A few weeks ago one of my coworkers mentioned that they hired a guy who faked being a lawyer to teach law over here, and I figured that would have had to have been you, so I thought I’d come check it out.”

Jeff sat in stunned silence as he took all of this information in. “You’re teaching at City College now?”

“Yeah. Because that was the important part of what I said just now, Jeff. As good a listener as ever, I see,” Slater snarked back.

“Oh, yeah, of course.” Jeff shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I’m sure it must have been awful being kidnapped by a cult like that, and I’d love to catch up with you some more, but unfortunately, I’m supposed to meet up with my fiancée for lunch.” Jeff started to stand.

“Fiancée? Mr ‘Chubby Hubby feels too relationshippy’ is engaged?” Slater snorted derisively. “Let me guess, you and that blonde from that little study group you used to have finally decided to stop doing your little 'will-they-won't-they' dance? What was her name? Bartles? Boater?”

“Britta!” Jeff called out to Britta as she walked by the door to his office. When she turned and saw who was sitting across the desk from him, the color drained from her face. “Britta, you remember Michelle Slater, right? My old statistics professor? We dated back when I was a freshman?”

“Uh, yeah, I remember her.” Britta scowled. “Slater.”

“Perry,” Slater replied flippantly. “You look so much thinner than the last time I saw you. Have you been sick?”

“Oh, thank you!” Britta’s eyes narrowed as her voice took on a distinctly icy aspect. “You look so much more mature. Age really suits you!”

Jeff’s eyes nervously flitted back and forth as he watched the two women engage in their tennis match of insults. “Well, I’m sure you two have a lot of catching up to do! Britta, Michelle was just telling me about how she was kidnapped! By a cult! Why don’t you and her spend some time catching up here, and when you’re done, you can just go ahead and keep my office! The Dean will give me a new one.” Before either woman could respond, Jeff practically leaped from his chair and briskly walked out the door. As he hurried down the hallway, he noticed Annie walking towards him, and as they met, he grabbed her arm and pulled her along after him. “Hey, I was just coming to find you. Let’s go get lunch. Somewhere very far away. I’ll explain why later!”

Once they were safely in Jeff’s car and out of the parking lot, Jeff let himself relax a bit. Annie, baffled by what had just happened, turned to him. “Jeff, are you okay? You looked like you’d just seen a ghost.”

“I kind of did,” Jeff replied, taking slow, deep breaths to center himself.

“Jeff, there are no ghosts at Greendale. We busted them all so they could resanctify the physics classroom. Remember?” Annie playfully chastised him.

“I know. I don’t mean a literal ghost, I mean…” Jeff sighed. “Slater’s back.”

“What!?” Annie exclaimed as her eyes widened.

“Yeah. I dumped her on Britta so I could get out of there.” He looked at Annie sheepishly.

“Jeff!” Annie slapped his shoulder. “How could you do that to Britta? She  _ hates _ Slater!”

“Yeah, I know. I just panicked,” Jeff admitted. “I’ll make it up to her.”

“If she and Slater don’t kill each other. You need to go back there and talk to Slater, and then apologize to Britta.” Annie looked at Jeff reproachfully.

As they pulled up to a red light, Jeff looked back at Annie, a pained expression on his face. “You’re not going to give me a choice on this, are you?”

“Nope!” Annie smiled over at Jeff. “But, since I know this won’t be fun, I’ll make it up to you later.”

“Can’t I just deal with it later? Please?” Jeff groaned, leaning his head back against the headrest.

“Do this for me, Jeff?” Annie fluttered her eyelashes at him, tilting her head to the side.

"Fine!" Jeff bounced his forehead off the steering wheel in frustration. "You're lucky you're so damn adorable."

Annie smiled at Jeff and bounced in her seat happily as he pulled a u-turn and headed back to campus. As he parked the car, Annie nervously looked at him. "So, do you want me to stay in the car, or…"

"No way in hell are you sitting in the car while I deal with this!" Jeff leveled a finger at Annie as he climbed out of the driver's seat. "No, you're coming with me. At least that way if one of them murders me, you'll be a witness."

"I guess that's fair," Annie replied. "But are you sure you want to put your adorable fiancée's safety at risk?" She gave Jeff another of her Disney looks.

"Don't think you can doe-eye your way out of this!" Jeff looked at Annie sternly, though he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from curling up slightly as he opened the passenger door of the car.

Annie sighed as she climbed out, and the two headed back towards Jeff's office. As they approached, Jeff was struck by the almost overpowering silence. Walking into his office, Britta and Slater sat motionless, aggressively staring at each other.

“Hey,” Jeff said, shattering the silence like an old man’s legs after being launched from a secret trampoline. Both women whipped their heads around to look at him, their eyes boring into him. “Britta, why don’t you and Annie go get some coffee or something? I’ll meet up with you guys in a minute. I think Michelle and I need to speak in private for a bit.” Annie and Britta left quietly as Jeff stood there, unsure of what to say next.

Before he could speak, Slater opened her mouth. “Wow, Jeff. The teenager? Really?” She glared at him.

“First of all, Michelle, she’s not a teenager. And second of all, yeah, Annie and I are engaged.” Jeff pulled a chair over and sat down. “Look, I shouldn’t have run out and dumped Britta on you like that. That was immature of me, I know.”

Slater snorted derisively. “Well, at least you admit it now.”

Jeff glared back at Slater for a minute before his expression softened. “Okay, you know what, I deserve that. When we dated, I wasn’t the world’s greatest boyfriend, and then after everything with you and Britta telling me you love me, I freaked out and ran when I shouldn’t have. But that was six years ago. A lot has changed since then." Jeff rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I owe you an apology for how I acted. I was stupid and immature, and honestly, I was scared of being in a serious relationship. I was a coward. And because of that, I didn't do things the way I should have. I'm sorry. For all of it. Seriously."

Slater scowled. "When the hell did Jeff Winger grow up?"

"I don't know. Sometime between when Chang took over the school as a dictator and when Garrett married his cousin." Jeff leaned forward in his chair. 

"What the hell did this place turn into while I was gone?" A look of deep disturbance crossed Slater's face.

“You really don’t want to know,” Jeff sighed. “But that’s beside the point. You deserved a better explanation than I gave you.”

Slater eyed Jeff suspiciously. “So, what? You’re a new, more evolved Jeff Winger or something? I don’t buy it.” 

“Michelle, look, I don’t know about being a more evolved anything, but I am trying to be a better person.” 

“Ha! Yeah, sure, Jeff,” Slater scoffed as she looked at her phone as it buzzed. She pushed herself from her chair and headed towards the door. “I have to go, but don’t think we’re done here.”

After Slater left, Jeff sat in silence for a minute before getting up and heading off to find Annie and Britta. After wandering the halls a bit, he eventually found them in the old study room, Britta seated in her old spot, Annie next to her in Abed's. As he entered the room, Britta stared at him, her lips pursed and her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"I owe you an apology, Britta," Jeff sat down in his old chair and looked at Britta. "I'm sorry I ditched you with Michelle. I shouldn't have done that."

"Douche," Britta spat back. 

"Okay, I probably deserved that." Jeff rocked back in his chair. "When she showed up like that, I freaked out. And then when you walked by, I didn't even think about it, I just saw an out and took it. I shouldn't have. I should have talked to Michelle like an adult."

"Yeah, well, I guess you have a history of walking out on both of us in awkward situations like that." Britta glared at Jeff harder. "And then running into Annie afterward." 

"Whoa! Okay, while there  _ may _ be some small similarities, this is nothing like  _ that _ . I mean-" Jeff noticed the grin spreading across Britta's face. "You're messing with me!"

"Of course I'm messing with you. It's been six years. You honestly think if I was still pissed about that, you wouldn't know by now?" Britta began to laugh. “Jesus, Winger.”

Jeff sighed. “Yeah, yeah. You really got me there. What did you and Michelle talk about, anyway?”

“Not a whole lot, honestly. She asked who you were engaged and after I told her, we mostly just sat in silence and glared at each other. It was probably the friendliest interaction Slater and I have ever had.” Britta shrugged. “What’d  _ you _ talk about with her?”

“I mostly just apologized for how I handled things. We didn’t really have much of a chance to get everything out in the open, since she had to leave. She did say we were done with it yet, though.” 

“So, what are you going to do now?” 

“Well, Annie and I were planning on getting lunch. After that, I have a few more classes this afternoon, and then probably finish up some grading.” Jeff began to relax.

“That’s not what I meant,” Britta replied.

“I know. I don’t know what I’m going to do about Michelle. I guess I’m just going to have to wait and see what she does next.” All three stood up and headed towards the door.

Suddenly, a very out of breath Garrett burst into the room. “Professor Winger! Crisis alert! Professor Slater is back!”

“I know, Garrett.” Jeff looked at the awkward young man with a mixture of pity and annoyance.

“Oh. Okay then. Well, I’m going to lie down then. I ran all the way from the drinking fountain as soon as I heard.” Garrett then promptly collapsed to the floor, panting.

As they stepped over him, Annie looked at Jeff. “Isn’t the drinking fountain just outside the doors to the library?”

“Yep,” Jeff replied. As they passed the Librarian’s desk, Jeff stopped for a moment. “Mariah, can you call Stacey? Garrett passed out on the floor again.”


	10. My Protector and My Best Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie goes to bat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, it means the world to me!
> 
> As always I greatly appreciate any feedback you can give me.
> 
> Enjoy!

Annie ejected the empty magazine and slid a fresh one into the grip of the Glock, racking the slide and carefully sighting the target before slowly squeezing the trigger. She’d picked up the habit of going to the range to decompress back when she’d lived above Dildopolis and carried a revolver for safety, even though, at the time, she’d still been too young to get a permit to carry. Later, Hickey had taken her to the range a few times, insisting that she “know how to handle the damn thing” after she mentioned to him that she’d kept the gun after moving in with Troy and Abed. By then, she’d acquired a permit, not having felt good about carrying a gun illegally, even if it  _ was _ for her own safety. Finally, during her internship, she’d had the opportunity to go through much more formal firearms training. Though she’d always have a soft spot for her Smith & Wesson Model 60, she found that a Glock was ultimately a much more practical weapon. Though it had taken her a bit to get used to the recoil, she had adapted fairly quickly.

The crack of the gunshots, coupled with the slow, methodical pace at which she shot helped to center Annie, and she’d hoped that it might have had the same effect on Jeff. Unfortunately, as she’d learned pretty quickly, Jeff wasn’t the biggest fan of real guns, having mentioned something about the conspiracy theory fiasco their second year at Greendale, and so she usually ended up coming to the range alone. The last few weeks had been stressful for both of them. Jeff had become closed off and tightly wound since Slater had resurfaced causing Annie to worry about Jeff’s mental state on top of putting the final touches on her upcoming Ballistic Analysis and Reconstruction final project, not to mention the both of them planning a wedding.

As she lined up her final shot, she felt the hot fetor of a stranger’s breath on the back of her neck, causing her to tense up as she fired. The shot went low and to the left, and Annie let out an annoyed grunt. 

“Need some help with your shooting, Sweetie?”

Annie set her gun down methodically, making sure the muzzle was pointed downrange, before recalling her target. As it rattled back in along the track, she turned around, looking at the slightly overweight man wearing a  ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ t-shirt that was just half a size too small, his greasy hair poorly styled into a facsimile of a fauxhawk. “No,” she replied curtly. The man opened his mouth to say something else but stopped when he noticed the range master, a stern-looking woman wearing a bright red bulletproof vest, glaring at him, causing him to scurry off. 

She turned back to her target, examining it closely. A neat vertical line of bullet holes ran from the groin of the silhouette up to the top of the head, one on top of the other, save for a single errant hole in the right shoulder. Annie poked her finger at the single stray hole and sighed before hanging up a fresh target and reloading her magazines.

A little over an hour later, after she’d gone through the several boxes of ammunition she’d bought, Annie packed the gun back in its box, the slide locked back and the magazines carefully placed beside it. Making her way off the range, she stopped at the rental desk and handed the weapon over to the employee on the other side.

“Good to see you, Annie. It’s been a while.” The young man smiled as he checked the chamber of the gun before placing a small orange flag inside and running the slide forward, letting the pressure hold the marker in place.

“Good to see you too, Dale. I’ve just been busy lately, what with school and everything.” Annie smiled back politely.

“Yeah, I heard you got engaged to that boyfriend of yours. You ever gonna bring him in so we can all meet him?”

Annie laughed perfunctorily. “Probably not. Jeff isn’t a huge fan of guns. But maybe.”

Dale looked at Annie questioningly. “You sure about this guy?”

Annie laughed again, more genuinely this time. “Yeah, Dale, I’m sure.”

“Good luck to you, then.” Dale shook his head in confused amusement.

“Thanks. Have a good night.” Annie made her way out to her car, turning on the radio as she started it, and pulled out of the parking spot, softly singing along to  _ Ophelia _ . Though she’d managed to figure out what she wanted to do for her project and had some great ideas for the wedding invitations (not that she and Jeff had come anywhere close to setting a date yet), she was still hopelessly, frustratingly at a loss on how to help Jeff.

As she pulled into the parking lot and headed inside the apartment building, Annie wondered if it might be a good idea to talk to Britta about what was going on. After all, she hated Slater more than anyone else. Or maybe Abed would have some insight, given his understanding of everyone’s “characters”, as he liked to put it. 

Halfway to the apartment, Annie ran into Dean Pelton. “Annie! So good to see you! Have you and Jeffrey given more thought to my offer?”

“Hi, Dean Pelton.” Annie gave him a confused look. “What offer?”

“Annie, please, you can call me Craig. And my offer to officiate your wedding.” He looked at Annie expectantly.

“Oh, yeah. Jeff and I talked about it, and while it’s very sweet of you, I was hoping we could have a Jewish ceremony. I hope you understand.”

“Oh…” Dean Pelton looked down at his feet dejectedly. “Of course.”

As Annie stood there, not entirely sure of what to say next, a thought formed in her mind. “Dea-Craig, you remember Michelle Slater, right? She used to teach statistics at Greendale. She and Jeff dated for a couple of months.”

“Of course I remember Michelle. I remember she and Britta put Jeffrey in quite the pickle after the Tranny Dance,” Dean Pelton replied almost wistfully. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, well, she’s shown back up and I was just hoping I could know a bit more about her.’ Annie smiled at Dean Pelton.

“Are you jealous, Annie?” Dean Pelton laughed. “I don’t think you have to worry about Jeffrey and Michelle.”

“Oh, no. No no no. No. No no. No,” Annie denied vehemently.

“Mhmm.” Dean Pelton gave her a skeptical look. “Well, I remember a few things about her. What were you hoping to learn?”

“Just anything you could share with me. I’d really appreciate it.” Annie gave the Dean a half-hearted Disney look.

“Well.” Dean Pelton tapped his chin. “I know she grew up in Arvada. She got her Bachelor’s and Master’s from UC Boulder, where she also played softball, and then got her Doctorate from Colorado State. I also know she lost her virginity to a junior rodeo champion when she was in high school. Oh, and she is very particular about how people address her.”

“Okay,” Annie replied, nodding. “Thank you. That’s very...useful.” 

As Annie walked past the Dean, he called after her. “You know, Annie, Chang’s brother is a rabbi! He might be willing to officiate your wedding!”

Annie stopped, suppressing a shudder. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Inside the apartment, she found Jeff sitting at the kitchen table, having his twelfth staring contest in as many days with the bottle of scotch on top of the fridge, the table in front of him strewn with papers. When he heard the door open, he looked up. “Hey, Annie. How was the range?” 

Annie slipped her shoes off and walked over, kissing Jeff on the corner of the mouth. “It was okay. How’s your grading going?” 

Jeff sighed. “It’s going. I think I can probably get everything for Constitutional Law finished up by tomorrow night, and then I just have final presentations for Oral Arguments next week.” He began to rub his temples. “How do you deal with these damn stress headaches?”

“Well, I used to push through them. And when that stopped working, I, well, you know.” Annie pulled a chair over next to Jeff, softly rubbing his back. “Of course, now I just try to take a break if I need to. Find something to take my mind off things for a bit.” She nudged him with her shoulder.

Jeff chuckled, grinning. “Yeah, and who taught you to do that?”

“And who taught you to start working hard?” Annie grinned back.

“Yeah, and I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive you for that.” Jeff squeezed Annie’s thigh just above the knee. “Unless…” Jeff’s hand slid up Annie’s thigh a bit further.

Annie swatted Jeff’s arm playfully. “Not until you finish your grading, mister.”

Jeff affected a faux-beleaguered, woe-is-me expression. “You’re a cruel taskmaster, Miss Edison. Or should I start calling you Missus Winger?” He cocked an eyebrow, a smile creeping across his face.

Annie looked at her left hand, carefully examining the engagement ring on the fourth finger. “Hmm, well, seeing as how there’s only the one ring here so far,  _ Mister Winger _ , I think you should stick to ‘Miss Edison’. But maybe, if you’re  _ very _ good, I  _ might  _ be willing to make an exception.”

Jeff laughed, pulling Annie onto his lap as she let out a squeak. “Well,  _ Miss Edison _ , I might be able to behave myself.” He kissed her deeply. “But I can’t make any promises.”

Annie pushed herself off his lap, laughing. “Well, I’m glad you’re willing to make an effort.” She took a deep breath, looking Jeff in the eyes. “I’m really glad to see you smile again. I’ve been worried about you.”

Jeff gave her a confused look. “Worried about me?”

Annie sighed. “You’ve just been so…” She tried to think of the right word. “ _ Closed off _ since Slater showed back up.”

The smile disappeared from Jeff’s face like a monkey into an air vent. “Oh. Yeah. I'd almost forgotten about that.”

Annie looked at the table. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to upset you.”

“No, it’s fine.” Jeff sighed. “I should probably get back to grading.” He shot a glance at the bottle of scotch.

“Did she call again?” Annie took Jeff’s hand in hers, gently squeezing it.

“Yeah. Twice while you were gone.” Jeff looked down at the papers scattered across the table.

“Why don’t you just tell her to leave you alone? Or block her number?”

“I want to, but some part of me feels like everything that happened to her was my fault. Like, if I hadn’t run out like that, if I had just dealt with the whole thing then and there, would she have been kidnapped by that cult? But then I wouldn’t have run into you, and we wouldn’t have...” Jeff let out a groan of frustration.

“Jeff, sweetheart, you know it’s not your fault. She and Britta put you in such an awkward place, in front of all those people, and then just expected you to  _ choose _ one of them like you were picking a backpack or something.” Annie leaned her head against Jeff’s. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Jeff sighed again. “Unless you can get Slater to stop calling me, not really.”

“Okay.” Annie looked up at the bottle on the fridge, a plan formulating in her mind. “I’m going to go take a shower and then probably get in bed. Why don’t you come join me in a bit?” She got up, kissing Jeff on the temple. “And why don’t you just have a glass? It might help you relax a little.” She stopped a few steps away, looking at Jeff. “I hope you know I love you.” 

“I love you too,” Jeff grunted in response, his head resting on the pile of papers in front of him.

As she grabbed her flannel pajamas from the bedroom as she headed to the shower, Annie was sure she heard the faint sound of a bottle tap against the rim of a tumbler.

* * *

The next day, Annie sat in the student lounge, feigning interest as Abed explained the plot of  _ Kickpuncher X _ and she tried to organize her study schedule for finals. As he spoke, she carefully wrote in times to study for each of her classes, high lighting them in different colors of each class.

“And  _ then _ Kickpuncher kick-punches a drug dealing alien terrorist into a black hole,” Abed explained excitedly.

“Abed, do you remember Professor Slater?” Annie cut in before he could continue.

“Yes. She and Jeff dated freshman year before she broke up with him on Family Day. Then, at the end of the year Transfer Formal, or Tranny Dance, as the Dean decided to start calling it, she attempted to rekindle her relationship with Jeff, leading to Britta declaring her love for him, Professor Slater then declared  _ her _ love for Jeff, causing him to run out when Professor Duncan got drunk and tried to rap, leading to the Dean suspending him and Chang then punching-You know what, you know what happened.” Abed stopped abruptly, remembering a conversation he’d had with Jeff about not needing to recap everything.

“Yeah,” Annie replied. “Well, she showed back up a few weeks ago, and since then, she’s been calling Jeff a lot, and he’s been really stressed out about it. I was hoping you might be able to help me out a little.”

“Oh, yeah. I think Garrett mentioned that in his newsletter.” Abed thought for a moment. “Well, Troy, Professor Duncan, and I could take Jeff on a trip to Las Vegas that results in all sorts of wacky hi-jinks after we all drink too much. Though I’m a little worried we’d run into Chang there like we did in Italy.”

“That’s certainly an idea, Abed. Why don’t we put that down as plan B?” Annie nodded, her brow furrowed. “I was hoping you might have some insight on Slater, though. Like, her personality? Does she have any…” Annie leaned in and whispered. “ _ Weaknesses? _ ”

“Cool. Cool cool cool,” Abed began. “Well, It’s been a few years since she was last around, and I’m sure some stuff has changed since then, but from what I remember, she was fiercely competitive, especially when it came to Jeff. That’s probably why she hates Britta so much. Of course, that’s when Britta was still being billed as Jeff’s primary love interest. Now that you’ve taken over in that capacity, who knows how Slater will behave, especially given that it seems like you and Jeff are going to make things permanent, as it were.”

Annie nodded. “Okay. I think I can use that. Thanks.” Annie stood up, hoping to meet up with Jeff for a few minutes before her next class. As she got to the door, she stopped and turned to look at Abed. “Um, also, Abed, not that it isn’t great to have you around, but don’t you need to get back to LA at some point? You know, for that show you were working on?”

“Oh, yeah. They canceled that back in February.” Abed replied impassively.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, Abed. Do you want to talk about it?” Annie moved to sit back down, not wanting to leave Abed on that note.

“Don’t worry, it’s all fine. Troy’s going to help finance my movie,  _ Police Justice _ . I was actually hoping I could get your help with some scenes I’m having trouble with if you have time.” Abed began to dig through his bag, pulling out a script.

“Well, I’m a bit busy right now, but I can take a look when I have some free time if that’s okay,” Annie replied, taking the script from him.

“That’s fine. I highlighted the parts I was hoping you could look over in purple.”

“Okay, I’ll take a look when I can and tell you what I think.” Annie turned and headed off to find Britta. As she walked, she flipped through the script, noticing that a full two-thirds of the 125-page script had been highlighted in purple.

* * *

Annie examined the two outfits, trying to decide between them: one a navy blue pantsuit and light grey blouse, the other a yellow floral print dress and green cardigan. She walked into the living room holding both.

“Jeff, sweetheart, which of these outfits do you like better?” Annie held each in front of herself, one at a time.

Jeff looked up from his phone, glancing at each briefly. “The dress.” Jeff looked back down at his phone.

Annie went back into the bedroom, carefully hanging the dress and cardigan back up, realizing now that it was obvious that Jeff would prefer the dress. She changed into the pantsuit and slipped into a pair of black flats.

Heading towards the door, Annie stopped to give Jeff a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back later, I have something I need to go take care of.”

“Okay. Love you,” Jeff replied, not looking up from his phone.

About twenty minutes later Annie pulled her car into the visitor parking lot at City College. As she climbed out of the driver’s seat, she double-checked the building and office number she’d written down:  _ Office 334, Deschain Hall _ . Making her way through campus, she eventually found her way to Deschain Hall. She entered the building and scanned the directory, confirming her destination when she saw the listing  _ Dr Michelle Slater Ph.D. Associate Professor - Statistics Office #334 _ .

Annie found her way to the stairs and climbed to the third floor. Turning down the long hallway, Annie made her way towards office #334. Just outside the open door, Annie steeled herself, taking a deep breath before knocking on the frame. 

“Hi, can I help you?” Slater looked up from her work. “Oh, you’re Jeff’s fiancée! What was it again? Anne? Anna?”

“Annie,” Annie corrected her. “Annie Edison, though you can just call me Annie. For now.” Despite the smile on her face, Annie’s voice had a wicked edge to it.

“Of course. So, Annie, to what do I owe the honor? After all, you must be something special to get Jeff Winger to propose.” Slater smiled back, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Well, Michelle, it’s actually about Jeff.” Annie took a seat opposite Slater.

“Please, call me Professor Slater,” Slater smirked. “What could you possibly be worried about with Jeff? I mean, you’re the one who got a nice little ring around her finger. You surely can’t be worried that he might still have feelings for me.”

Annie laughed harshly. “Oh, no. Nothing like that, Michelle. It’s been a  _ very _ long time since you and Jeff dated. No, Michelle, this has nothing to do with me being worried about Jeff still having  _ feelings _ for you. I just think you showing up has put Jeff in a bit of an uncomfortable position. You see, last time you two saw each other, you decided to start a competition with our friend Britta. Both of you declaring your love for him in front of, really, the entire school. Now, Britta and Jeff have long since made their peace over that. We all learned an important lesson about respecting each other. I even punched Jeff.” Annie chuckled. “But you, you disappeared. And I know that’s not your fault. And truly, it’s quite terrible what happened to you. Being kidnapped by a cult and held against your will? I’m sure you thought cooperating with them was your only option. But that meant that Jeff never got any closure with you. And while you were gone, that was quite alright. I honestly don’t think he really ever even thought about you. But then you decided to show back up and act as if nothing happened. And, of course, you can’t seem to take a hint that he doesn’t want to talk to you.” Annie leaned back in her chair.

“So Jeff told you all about what happened? And then, what, sent you to tell me to back off?” Slater sneered.

Annie barked a laugh. “Oh no, Michelle.” Annie could see Slater’s jaw clench a bit every time she called her _Michelle_. “Jeff has _no_ _idea_ that I’m here.” Annie shook her head. “And Jeff, Jeff didn’t tell me anything,” Annie lied. ”No, you see, Michelle, I had the opportunity to intern for the FBI last summer and, let me tell you, they have all sorts of very _interesting_ files. All _very_ informative. I got to learn all about your time at the Orthodox Neo-Buddhist compound.” Annie leaned in. “So, Michelle, the way this is going to work is that you are going to stop calling Jeff all the time, you are going arrange a meeting with him, by email, and you are going to apologize to him for putting him in such an incredibly awkward spot all those years ago, and for all the stress you’ve caused him. Because Jeff Winger is, while not a perfect human being, an incredibly good man at his core, and he has been trying so _very_ hard to be better, and he doesn’t deserve all that extra anxiety you’ve been causing him. And then, you can either try to be his friend, if he wants you to be, or you can leave him alone. Quite honestly, I’d be fine with either. But I do want you to understand that if you _don’t_ apologize, and if you continue to inflict undue stress and pain on my _fiancé_ , I will come back here, and you and I will have another one of these friendly little chats.” Annie sat back in her chair, a smile on her face. “Understood?”

Slater stared at Annie, her mouth agape with incredulity. “Are you  _ threatening  _ me?”

Annie laughed again. “Of course not, Michelle. If I wanted to threaten you, I’d have told you about how I had the pleasure of working with, and learning from, some of the absolute best forensic analysts in the country, if not the world, and how they taught me  _ just how easy  _ it is to make a body disappear entirely. Or how I know how to make sure that a crime scene has been scrubbed clean so that not even the tiniest bit of trace evidence is left behind.” She cocked her head to one side, still smiling. “But, of course, I didn’t tell you about all that now, did I?” As Slater stared at Annie, grasping for a response, Annie stood up from her chair, placing it back where she’d pulled it from. “Now, unfortunately, Michelle, I have to run. But it was such a pleasure to see you again. Hopefully, we can do this again soon.” Before Slater could muster any sort of response, Annie turned and walked out of the office, practically giddy from the thrill of her conversation with Slater. Once she was back in her car, she took a deep breath before starting the car and driving home.

Later that evening,  Annie ejected the empty magazine and slid a fresh one into the grip of the Glock, racking the slide and carefully sighting the target before slowly squeezing the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my editors pointed out to me recently that I've neglecting Annie as a character, so I'm going to be trying to put more effort into doing more with her outside of Jeff. 
> 
> Hopefully, I don't screw it up.


	11. Well I Know That My Life’s Better When We’re Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff and Annie start looking for a wedding band.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> As always, I appreciate any feedback you may have for me.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

“Okay, Jeff.” Annie set her wedding binder down on the coffee table. “This is an easy one: should we have a band or a DJ at the reception?”

Jeff looked up from his phone. “Isn’t a DJ just a playlist on a laptop? Or would we actually hire someone to do it?”

Annie sighed. “We would actually hire someone, Jeff.” 

“Well, if we’re going to pay someone, we might as well see if we can get live music.” Jeff went back to looking at his phone. Annie got up and walked over to Jeff, plucking the phone out of his hands. “Hey!”

“Jeff! You have to put more effort into this. So far your input has been limited to ‘open bar, wedding party gets a five-minute head start’ and ‘there should be food or something, probably’.” Annie read from a post-it note that Jeff had handed her a few minutes ago.

“Hey! I also suggested that we just skip the whole thing and go to Vegas!” Jeff objected.

Annie rolled her eyes, her arms crossed as she stood in front of Jeff. “We are _not_ eloping, Jeff.”

“Why not? We take a weekend, go to Vegas, get married by some guy dressed like Elvis, and then spend the rest of the time playing blackjack.” Jeff looked at Annie hopefully.

“No way, I. M. Pei. You put all that effort into proposing, you think I’m just gonna let you half-ass our wedding?” Annie bent down and kissed Jeff on the forehead. “No, we’re doing this right. No Vegas, no blackjack, and certainly no one dressed like Elvis.”

“Whoa, Annie, if we’re not going to be married by Elvis, are we sure we really even want to get married _at all_?” Jeff grinned up at Annie.

“Jeff!” Annie looked back at him sternly. 

“Fine! No Elvis!” 

“Thank you!” Annie sat down next to Jeff, pulling her binder across the table. “Now, for bands, we’ll have to go see a few to find one we like, but it’ll be fun! We can make each one a nice little date night. Go to dinner, go see the band, and then maybe go for a walk and discuss what we thought?”

“Wow, Annie! All my favorite dates have ended with a thorough discussion of the evening’s entertainment!” Jeff bumped Annie with his shoulder.

Annie turned to face Jeff, tucking her feet under herself. “I never said the dates had to end there. Maybe if you put in enough effort…” She began to run her hand up his chest as Jeff leaned in to kiss her. Just before their lips met, Annie leaned back sharply. “Well, I have to go meet with Abed to give him feedback on his script. Wanna come with?”

Jeff leaned forward, trying to catch Annie before she got to her feet. “Ummm, I might meet up with you in a bit.”

Annie leaned in and gave Jeff a quick peck on the cheek. “Okay.” She slipped her shoes on and grabbed her keys before heading for the door. As Annie left the apartment, she called back to Jeff. “Love you! Oh, and we’re meeting with Rabbi Chang at three on Friday.”

“Love you too!” Jeff called back as the door shut behind her. “Wait, what?!”

* * *

“Okay, so this next scene here.” Annie flipped the page on her script, revealing a page covered in red editing marks. “You have the two detectives show up to the crime scene and immediately declare that they’re dealing with a serial killer.”

“Yeah. The Backdoor Butcher,” Abed replied.

“Well, they mention it’s the first body they’ve ever seen killed like this. And while the audience knows that this isn’t the first victim, the detectives wouldn’t, so they wouldn’t have any reason to call it a serial killer yet. If it was the third or fourth body they’d found that’s been killed in the same way, or with some sort of signature from the killer, it’d make more sense. And I think we should talk about that name, too.”

Abed wrote down a few notes in the margin of his copy of the script. “Yeah, I’m still not great at names.”

“It’s okay, Abed. But if you call someone the Backdoor anything, no one is going to take them seriously. It sounds like something from a bad porno.”

Abed wrote down a few more notes. “What about the Sidedoor Slasher?”

“That could work,” Annie replied as her phone buzzed. She took a look at it, seeing a text from Jeff.

_Annie, did you say Rabbi Chang?_

_Yes. Chang said he’d talk to his brother and try to get us a discount._

_Are you sure? I mean, it’s Chang’s brother!_

_We’re meeting with him, Jeff. Also, I’m having Britta list a few bands for us to go see._

“So, Annie,” Abed said, grabbing her attention before Jeff could reply. “What are some ways that I could have the killer try to cover their tracks, but still leave clues?”

“Well, a big thing they could do is put down something like a tarp to catch the blood spray. That, and where maybe something like those plastic coveralls that painters wear sometimes. But because they’re stabbing the person so violently, maybe they cut themselves and leave a blood trail?”

“That’s good. But wouldn’t they then be able to track the killer down because they left DNA at the scene?”

“That’s not really how it works. Sure, if the killer’s DNA is already in the system, they could get a match, but if it isn’t then they can only really use it to match to a suspect once they have someone.” Annie’s phone buzzed again, this time with a call from Jeff. “One second, Abed. Jeff’s calling me.” She got up and walked out of the room. “Yes, Jeff?”

“You let _Britta_ pick the bands?” Jeff was distraught on the other end of the line.

“Yes, Jeff. I let Britta pick some bands for us to go see. And if we don’t like them, we’ll just keep looking. It’s not the end of the world,” Annie assured him.

“Okay. But it’s Britta. You know she’s going to pick some weird hipster bands!””

“Jeff! She’s doing this for us as a friend, the least we can do is give the bands she suggests a shot! And if it’s really terrible, I’ll make it up to you.”

“Oh yeah? And how exactly would you do that?”

Before Annie could answer Jeff, Abed walked up. “Hey, Annie, are you talking to Jeff?”

Annie covered the microphone on her cell. “Yeah, why?”

“Can you ask him if he’ll be in the movie? He’d be perfect for the lead.”

“Yeah, sure. One sec.” Annie moved her hand. “Jeff?”

“Yeah?”

“Abed wants to know if you’ll act in his movie. He says you’re perfect for the lead role.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. As long as I don’t have to wear those eyebrows again. I had a rash for like a month after the last time.”

Annie covered the mic on her phone again. “He says he’ll do it.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool.” Abed turned and walked back into the other room.

“Okay, Jeff, let’s discuss this more later. I’ll be home in a few hours, and Britta said she’d get me the list of bands before I head home, so we can look it over, okay?”

Jeff sighed into the phone. “Fine. I’ll see you in a bit. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Annie ended the call and put her phone away, walking back over to Abed. “Sorry, wedding planning stuff.”

“That’s okay. So for the next scene, I was thinking…” Abed trailed off, staring blankly at the paper in front of him.

Annie looked at him, concerned. “Abed, you okay? You stopped talking mid-sentence.”

“Oh, yeah, I was just expecting a scene break. I guess my timing was off or something.”

* * *

That Thursday, Jeff and Annie headed to see the first of the bands on the list Britta had given them at a small bar in downtown Greendale. As they pulled up outside, Jeff looked over at Annie. “What’s this band called again? Cultural Penetration?”

“Yeah,” Annie replied, giving Jeff a confused look. “Britta said they were post-punk, neo-avant-garde, whatever the hell that means.”

“Are you _sure_ about this?” Jeff gave Annie a pained look.

“Yes, Jeff. And at least there are a few other bands playing, so even if we don’t like one, maybe we’ll like one of the others.” Annie opened her car door. “Now, let’s go. If you promise not to get too drunk, I’ll even drive home.”

Jeff sighed heavily before opening his car door. “Fine. But you owe me for this.” Making their way into the bar, Jeff and Annie noticed that, despite the fairly run-down exterior, the interior of the bar was fairly well kept. At the far end of the room was a stage with an open area in front of it. Several people milled about, with more seated at tables and the bar itself while a band tuned their instruments.

“Okay, so I made us these worksheets to keep track of how we feel about each band.” Annie pulled out two sheets of paper with various categories and fields listed. 

“You made us _homework_?” Jeff groaned.

“Come on, Jeff. It’s simple. You just put down how you feel each band does in each of the ten categories on a scale of one to ten, and then I add up the totals for each band and compare them against each other.” Annie smiled at Jeff. “It’ll be fun!”

“You and I have very different definitions of fun, Annie.” Jeff side-eyed her.

“I don’t know about that. If you fill out your worksheet without whining, I’ll let you off the hook for helping me with wedding planning for a little while.” Annie raised her eyebrow at Jeff.

Jeff grinned. “Fine.” He read over the worksheet, taking note of the various categories. “Uh, quick question about a few of these categories, namely, how am I supposed to quantify _Accessibility to Elderly Jewish Women_?”

“Just imagine you’re my bubbe and ask yourself if you like the music, as an eighty-year-old Jewish woman,” Annie answered. “I’m sure you can do it, Jeff.”

“Okay. I will do my best.” As Jeff continued to read over the worksheet, the band began to play a very bass-heavy cover of Devo’s _Jocko Homo_. After a dozen more similarly bizarre, similarly bass-heavy songs, and three scotches, neat, for Jeff, the band finished their set and began to pack up. Jeff looked over at Annie, puzzled. “So, that was interesting.”

“Jeff, it was really bad. You can be honest,” Annie replied. 

“Okay. Yeah, they were terrible.” Jeff wrote down ones in every category. “So, want to call it a night, or…?”

“Since we’re out already, why don’t we see if any of the other bands playing tonight are any good. It could be fun.”

“Alright, but I’m going to need another drink. Do you want anything?” 

Annie smiled sweetly at Jeff. “Well, I wouldn’t say no to an appletini.”

“You just love making me order that, don’t you?” Jeff groaned.

“And you do it because you love me,” Annie replied, kissing Jeff on the cheek while toying with her engagement ring. 

Jeff sighed, though he couldn’t keep himself from smiling. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Jeff made his way to the bar and placed their order. While he was waiting, he noticed a man wearing checkered suspenders and a matching trilby staring at him. As the bartender slid Jeff the drinks, the man approached him.

“Jeff Winger?” 

“Uh, yeah. Can I help you with something?” Jeff replied, confused.

“Dude! It’s me! Pete Kline! From high school?” 

Recognition washed over Jeff’s face. “Whoa, no way! Pete, how’ve you been, man?” 

“Pretty good. The band’s still together, though we’ve had some lineup changes since high school, obviously. I took over lead vocals after you left, Greg moved to Detroit, so we had to find a new drummer, and Laney damaged her windpipe in some sort of weird troll figurine incident at a housewarming party, so we had to find a new trumpet player.” Pete looked around. “We’re actually up after the next band.”

“That’s awesome, man. I’m really glad you were able to keep things going,” Jeff replied.

“Yeah. So, what’ve you been up to since high school?”

“Oh, that’s a long story. A _very_ long story.” Jeff looked down at the two drinks he was holding. “Hey, there’s someone I want you to meet.” Jeff led Pete over to Annie. “Pete, I want you to meet my fiancée, Annie Edison.” Jeff handed Annie her appletini. “Annie, this is Pete Kline. We went to high school together.”

Annie shook Pete’s hand. “Nice to meet you. So, I have to ask, what was Jeff like in high school?”

“Oh man, this guy was crazy! He really knew how to party!” Pete laughed. “And he was the best singer our band’s ever had!”

“Jeff, you were in a band?” Annie gave Jeff a questioning look as she took a sip of her drink.

“Uh, yeah, for a bit,” Jeff replied bashfully. “It was nothing major.”

“Oh, c’mon dude! Don’t be modest! Skankin’ Jeff and The Greendale Rudeboys was the best Ska band Greendale’s ever seen!”

Annie choked on her drink a bit, sputtering. “ _Ska_ band?”

Jeff looked around, trying to chart a quick route to the exit. When he accepted he wouldn’t be able to escape, he looked back at Annie. “Yes, Annie, I was in a Ska band in high school. It was the early ‘90s and third-wave Ska was at the height of its popularity. Plus, Ska is a highly influential music style. I mean, did you know that Ska came before Reggae?”

Annie gave Jeff a skeptical look. “If you insist.”

Pete's eyes widened. “Dude! You gotta come and do a song with us!”

“I couldn’t. It’s been way too long. I’d probably be terrible.” Jeff tried not to sound terrified.

“Oh, Jeff, you should do it,” Annie replied. “For me?” She shot him her patented doe eyes. “I promise not to tell anyone.”

Jeff downed his scotch. “Damn it, Annie. Us getting engaged was supposed to make it harder for you to manipulate me.” He sighed heavily. “One song.”

Annie bounced up and down smiling while Pete ran off to let his bandmates know of the new development. As he had one more band set to prepare himself, Jeff had three more scotches. As the second performance of the night, a funk band called Salad Goat, finished up, Jeff began to feel the effects of his drinking. As The Greendale Rudeboys, as they were now known, took the stage, Jeff steeled himself.

Pete grabbed the microphone. “Hey there. Before we get started, we had a special guest we wanted to invite up to do a song with us. Jeff Winger, you wanna come on up on stage?” 

The audience turned to look at Jeff, who stumbled his way onto the stage and stood in front of the mic. He turned to the band members. “You guys know ‘Sell Out’” When the band all nodded, Jeff turned back to the mic and counted them down. As they launched into a spirited rendition of Reel Big Fish’s “Sell Out”, Jeff found himself skanking for the first time in more than two decades, and despite being woefully out of practice (and more than a bit drunk), he felt he did a pretty good job.

After his performance, Jeff half-stumbled off stage and found his way back to Annie, who stood roughly where he'd left her, flabbergasted at what she'd just witnessed. "That was…something, Jeff."

"Yeah, yeah. But remember, you can't tell anyone about what you just saw." Jeff leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, a goofy smile on his face.

"I won’t, don’t worry.” Annie shook her head in disbelief. “Not that anyone would believe me if I did.” As they watched The Greendale Rudeboys finish their set, Annie processed what she’d just witnessed. After they’d finished, she turned to Jeff. “Okay, I have to ask: Why Ska?”

Jeff shrugged as he leaned against the table. “It speaks to me. Something about the horns.”

“Okay. I guess that makes sense.” Annie stared at Jeff for a minute. “You were a geek in high school, weren’t you?”

“Big time. I kinda still am. I just hide it better.” Jeff smiled at Annie. “I’m kind of surprised you and Abed are the only two to say anything about it. That reminds me, Abed was talking about starting up a regular Dungeons & Dragons game and asked if we’d be interested. I told him that sounded fun.”

Annie looked at Jeff, taken aback. "Since when did you become Mr social?"

"I've always been social, Annie. You and I hang out all the time. And I'll go out for drinks with Britta or Duncan occasionally," Jeff replied defensively.

"You know, Jeff, it doesn't really count as 'hanging out' with someone when you live with them," Annie scoffed. 

"I go to lunch with Shirley from time to time!" 

"When was the last time you did that?" Annie cocked an eyebrow.

"When I was planning on proposing. We got lunch and she gave me some great advice."

"So, a month ago? And when was the last time before that?"

"It was just before we went on that ski trip," Jeff replied sheepishly.

"Admit it, Jeff: you just like to hang out at home."

"Okay, maybe I do, but in my defense, I do have a pretty amazing fiancée to hang out with. She's this really smart, gorgeous girl that knows how to have fun from time to time. Maybe you know her?" Jeff moved in closer to Annie.

"Yeah, I think I do." Annie slid up against Jeff. "I might have to introduce her to _my_ fiancé. He's this tall, handsome professor that likes to act like he's too cool for everything, but is secretly a giant nerd that was in a _Ska band_ in high school." She turned around and kissed him.

Jeff smiled. "You're going to make fun of me for that a lot, aren't you?"

"All the time." Annie smiled back before kissing Jeff again, a bit longer this time.

"Wanna get out of here?" 

Annie put her hand on Jeff's chest. "Not yet. Let's see if the next band is any good. They aren't on the list, but maybe that's a good thing."

Jeff fake pouted. "Fine. But don't expect any more realizations about my mysterious past to come to light."

"Oh, I won't." Annie grinned at Jeff mischievously. "Besides, I can just ask Doreen if I want to know more about you before you became _Jeff Winger, Douche at Law_."

"Wow, so you're gonna make fun of me using both my failed legal careers? That's vicious, Annie. But seriously, what does my mom tell you? I need to know what I have to start denying."

Before Annie could answer, the MC stepped onto the stage. "Folks, tonight's last performance is particularly special. For the first time since returning from Delaware, welcome two-time National Hacky Sack Grand Championship quarter-finalist Vaughn Miller and his band, Some Worries, to the stage!"


	12. I’m Just A Man But I Know That I’m Damned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff, Annie, and Vaughn have a little talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than I normally prefer to post, as well as a bottle episode.
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for reading.
> 
> I appreciate any feedback you may have for me.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Shit,” Annie swore under her breath as she and Jeff stared at the stage in shock. 

Vaughn, shirtless, walked up to the microphone. “Hi. Hey. How's it going? This first song goes out to an old bandmate who died a few years back. Pierce, wherever you are, hope you’re taking notes.” He counted No Worries into “Pierce You Are A B”.

As they played, Jeff and Annie looked at each other nervously. “I say we just leave and pretend we were never here.” Jeff pulled his car keys out of his pocket and handed them to Annie. “You drive.”

Annie grabbed the keys and then began to briskly walk towards the door with Jeff. About halfway there, the music stopped abruptly and both heard the four syllables they least wanted to hear.

“Mountain Flower?”

Jeff and Annie stopped mid-stride. Despite Jeff’s emphatic headshaking, Annie slowly turned to look at the stage, the audience turning to look at her in silence. “Hi, Vaughn.”

Vaughn jumped down from the stage and made his way towards Annie. As he did, much of the audience groaned and voiced their displeasure at the music stopping. “Mountain Flower! I missed you so much. I wanted to call you, but when you asked me to drop you off instead of coming to Delaware, I threw my phone in the ocean. And then after I replaced it, I couldn’t remember your number.” Vaughn moved to hug Annie, though she put her hand up to stop him.

“Vaughn, I’m engaged.” Annie decided to rip that band-aid off right away. “You remember Jeff, right?”

Jeff turned around as Annie grabbed his hand. “How’s it going, Vaughn?”

The vaguely absentminded smile faded from Vaughn’s face. “You’re engaged to _him_?”

“Yeah, Vaughn. It’s been six years. A lot has changed.”

“Wow. Okay, this is _definitely_ the least tight thing to ever happen to me!” Vaughn took a step towards Jeff. “First the thing with Britta and my poem, and now this? I’m gonna kick your ass!”

Jeff put his hands up defensively. “I’m not going to fight you, Vaughn.”

“Why not, Bro? Afraid I’ll beat you up?” Vaughn raised his fists and began to hop around like a frog undergoing some sort of medical emergency.

“No. Because I’m not a character in _The O.C_.”

“Yeah, well, you have to pay! You can’t steal Annie from me!”

“Really dude? Really? You really wanna do this? Fine!” Jeff clenched his fists “Sup! Sup!” Jeff began to give Vaughn the Forest Whittaker eye.

Annie stepped in between the two men. “Okay! First of all, Vaughn, Jeff didn’t steal me from you. I wasn’t yours to steal, to begin with. Plus, he and I didn’t start dating until last August.” Annie chose to not mention the fact that she’d kissed Jeff the night she’d broken up with Vaughn. “And second, you’re not going to kick anyone’s ass. You’re going to go finish your set, and then you, Jeff, and I are going to all sit down together and talk about this like adults! Okay?” Jeff and Vaughn began to mumble under their breath. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Jeff and Vaughn replied, properly chastened. Vaughn headed back onto the stage, and after apologizing for the interruption, finished his set with his band. While he did so, Jeff and Annie made their way to an empty booth and sat down.

“Were you really going to fight him?” Annie looked at Jeff, her expression a combination of disappointed and annoyed.

“Uh...no?” Jeff answered, not really sure himself.

“Seriously?” Annie shook her head. “What would you hope to accomplish by fighting my ex-boyfriend from six years ago?”

Jeff looked down at his hands. “I don’t know. I’d like to blame my drinking or demonic possession or something, but I know you won’t buy any of that crap.” He sighed. “I guess I just got worried. And maybe a bit jealous.”

Annie looked at Jeff sympathetically. “Oh, Jeff. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say. If I was going to leave you for someone like Vaughn, I wouldn’t have agreed to marry you.”

Jeff laughed a little at that. “Okay, that’s fair. But still, I can’t help worrying about stuff like that, regardless of how stupid it is.”

“And that’s very sweet of you. But fighting Vaughn wouldn’t have really changed anything. Except maybe getting us kicked out of the bar, and you possibly getting arrested.”

Jeff sighed. “You’re right. I mean, of course you’re right. You’re always right.” He smiled at Annie. “Gotta love how, as soon as we get engaged, all this crazy shit starts happening. First Michelle shows back up, then Vaughn. What next, Pierce shows up and reveals he faked his death?”

Annie laughed. “That would be just like something he’d do. But knowing him, he’d show up at our wedding and then complain about not being invited.”

“Honestly, that sounds _exactly_ like what he’d do.” Jeff looked at Annie for a second. “You know, I was thinking we could save a seat for him. Just in case. And if he really is dead, we can always just put that lava lamp there instead.”

“I think he’d like that. I thought you hated Pierce, though?”

“I guess I’ve just had more time to think about it, and I guess I realized that, yeah, he may have been a bigoted, crazy old bastard, but he was still our friend, and despite his flaws, he at least tried to be a decent person from time to time. Plus, you _were_ his favorite, so I think he’d deserve to see you get married.”

“Wow, Jeff. You’re being really sweet tonight.” Annie looked at him lovingly. “You must really feel like a jackass for trying to fight Vaughn.”

“A little bit. But I can also be sweet without there being any hidden reason.”

“I know. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Though it’s not like people haven’t started figuring it out by now.”

Jeff scooted closer to Annie and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in tight as they watched No Worries finish their set. After the band was done, Vaughn jumped down from the stage and found where they were sitting. He sat down on the opposite side of the table from Jeff and Annie.

“Vaughn,” Jeff began, “I’m sorry for what happened between you and Britta. I was kind of a douche back then, and I shouldn’t have made fun of your poem like that.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Vaughn stared at Jeff.

Annie looked from Jeff to Vaughn. “And Vaughn, I’m sorry about how things ended with us. I just couldn’t go to Delaware with you. I realized that I belonged at Greendale. But I never explained that to you, and I should have.”

Vaughn pouted silently for a bit. “But Mountain Flower, how could you end up with _him_?” Vaughn glared at Jeff. 

“Jeff’s actually a good guy. I know you two had your differences, but I think you might be able to find some common interests. For example, Jeff was in a band.”

“It’s true,” Jeff said through a grimace. 

Vaughn gave Jeff a suspicious look. “You were in a band, huh? Why did you play?”

Jeff made a deeply pained expression. “We were a Ska band.”

When Jeff mentioned Ska, Vaughn’s expression softened. “You like Ska?”

“Yes. I love Ska.” Jeff did his best to sound genuine.

“Me too, Bro. It’s the horns. They speak to me.”

Jeff’s eyes widened a bit, though the rest of his expression remained mildly pained. “They’re the soul of Ska. I wish more genres made use of horns.”

Vaughn nodded along. “Maybe I was wrong about you, Bro. You wanna jam with me and the band sometime?”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, doesn’t it, Jeff, sweetheart?” Annie cut in before Jeff could respond, giving him a stern look. 

“Oh, that sounds just peachy, dear,” Jeff replied, a particularly perturbed expression on his face as he looked at Annie. 

“Right on! We have jam seshes a few times a week, so just let me know when you want to drop in, Bro.” Vaughn took out a business card. “Here’s my phone number.”

Jeff took the card and looked it over, baffled that Vaughn had business cards. On one side it read _Vaughn Miller, Semi-professional hacky sacker and songwriter_ followed by a phone number, and on the other side was a line drawing of someone playing hacky sack and the guitar simultaneously. “Sounds good,” Jeff said, slipping the card into his pocket. They all sat in silence for a minute before Jeff stood up. “I’m gonna go get a drink. Either of you want anything?”

Annie smiled at Jeff. “You know what I like.” 

Jeff grimaced. “Okay, appletini for Annie. Vaughn, you want anything?”

Vaughn stared into space for a second. “I’ll take a green tea, if they have it.”

“And if they don’t have green tea at the bar?” Jeff stressed the word bar.

“Vodka cranberry.”

“Okay,” Jeff replied before heading to the bar.

As Jeff walked away, Annie noticed Vaughn staring at her. Before she had a chance to say anything, Vaughn broke the silence. “I missed you, Mountain Flower.”

“Vaughn, you have to stop calling me that,” Annie replied.

“But why, Mountain Flower?” Vaughn sounded hurt.

“Because, Vaughn, I’m, oh, I don’t know, _engaged_. And I’m not the same girl I was when we dated. A lot has changed in the last six years. Pierce died, Troy went on a boat trip around the world, Shirley moved to Atlanta for a while, Britta reconciled with her parents, Chang went crazy. Hell, I interned for the FBI last summer.”

“And it looks like you started wearing pants more. I always thought you looked better in dresses.”

Annie laughed. “You and Jeff have more in common than you realize, Vaughn.”

“I doubt it.” 

Jeff walked over carrying their drinks. He set an appletini down in front of Annie, eliciting a smile from her. He placed a vodka cranberry in front of Vaughn. “Sorry, they, surprisingly, didn’t have green tea.”

“No worries.” 

Jeff sat back down next to Annie, sliding his arm around the small of her back. “So what were you two talking about?”

“We were just discussing how much you and Vaughn have in common.” Annie nestled herself in close to Jeff as she took a sip of her drink. 

“Oh, yeah. I’m sure that’s _such_ a long list,” Jeff replied as he took a sip of his beer. 

“You’d be surprised, Jeff.” Annie stifled a laugh.

Both Jeff and Vaughn both looked at Annie. “What’s that mean?” they said in unison.

Annie laughed. “Oh, nothing. Just that you two are very similar.”

“What does _that_ mean?” Jeff leaned away from Annie.

“Oh, come on. Even if you just look at basics, you two are alike in a lot of ways. You both like to put on an air of aloofness but are bothered by things deep down way more than you’re comfortable admitting openly. You’re both musical, apparently. Seriously, Jeff, how did you hide that so well?” Jeff shrugged but didn’t answer. “You both dated Britta casually before ending things and later dating me. You both look a lot better when you don’t shave. You’re both tall. You both have pretty big foreheads, though Vaughn does a better job of hiding it. Sorry, Jeff.”

Jeff pulled his hair down, trying to cover his forehead a bit. “It’s not that big, is it?”

“It looks fine,” Vaughn answered. 

“You’re both vain as hell. But, most importantly, you’re both very sweet, when you want to be.” Annie leaned over and kissed Jeff on the corner of the mouth. “Now, Vaughn, it was great catching up with you, even if it was unexpected, Jeff and I should get going. We have a busy day tomorrow.”

Jeff looked at Annie, confused. “We do?”

“Yes, Jeff. We’re meeting with Rabbi Chang, remember?”

Jeff groaned. “No. I had actually managed to forget about that. Are you sure we have to do that? I mean, what if he’s just as crazy as Chang?”

“I’m sure he’s perfectly sane. He’s a very respected rabbi. Plus, Chang said he’d try and get us a discount on the service.”

“Ugh. Fine,” Jeff grunted as he stood up.

“Oh, and we’re having my brother over for dinner. I was hoping you two would be able to get along and have a good relationship, seeing as how he’s the only member of my family I still talk to.” Annie slid out of the booth.

“Okay.” Jeff looked at Vaughn. “I’ll, uh, send you a text about _jamming_ with you and your band sometime.”

“Sweet.” Vaughn stood up, gave Annie a hug, and then, despite his protests, gave Jeff one as well. “Night. See ya. Lates.”

“Au revoir. Adios. Deuces.” Jeff mirrored Vaughn’s habitual triple farewell before offering Annie his elbow. As the two of them walked out to the car, Jeff looked over at Annie. “Do I _have_ to ‘jam’ with Vaughn?”

“I’m not going to force you, but I think it’d be good for you. You seemed to have a really good time on stage tonight. It’s probably the happiest I’ve seen you wearing clothes in quite a while.”

“Fine. But this means I get to not help with some of the wedding planning.” 

Annie rolled her eyes as she unlocked the car. “Okay, but no complaints about the decisions I make without you.”

“Deal.” Jeff and Annie got in the car and headed home.


	13. Maybe This Time, I Won’t Wake From The Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Group sits down for a session of D&D.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you all so much for reading. 
> 
> I, of course, welcome and appreciate any feedback you may have for me.
> 
> As a quick note, this chapter does include a brief mention of fictional violence in the context of filming a movie, but again, it is very brief.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

Jeff lifted the police tape across the doorway, carefully maneuvering under it, Annie close behind him. They both scanned the room, taking in the shattered glass, splattered blood, and overturned furniture. A dead body lay in the middle of the room, the throat slashed and multiple stab wounds covering the torso.

“What’d’ya think, Justice? This look like our guy’s work?” Annie squatted down, picking up a piece of torn, bloodstained cloth with a pencil.

“It definitely looks like his handiwork.” Jeff walked over to the body, placing a gloved hand on the forehead. “The body’s still warm. We must have just missed him.”

“Damn!” Annie ran toward the window, whacking her shin on the coffee table as she went. “Ow! Shit!”

“Cut!” Abed called from his chair nearby. 

“Sorry!” Annie grabbed her shin as she winced in pain.

“Are you okay?” Jeff rushed over to her. “That sounded like it hurt.”

“I’m fine. I just feel bad for ruining the take.”

The corpse sat up. “Why do I have to be a dead body? Why can’t I be a detective or something?”

“Britta, why would you want to be a detective? You don’t even like cops,” Annie replied.

“And you don’t just play a dead body, Britta,” Abed added. “You also play a prostitute, a drug addict, and a bartender.”

Britta glared at Abed. “That’s so much better Abed. Why couldn’t I play a psychologist or a doctor or something?”

“I thought those roles would be the ones you’d fit best.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Britta threw her hands in the air.

Jeff cut in, “Britta, you can argue about what your role in the movie should be later. Right now, I’d really like to get this scene finished so we can go home. Annie and I are going cake tasting tomorrow and I want to make sure I can get a good run in beforehand.”

Troy stuck his head into the room holding a boom mic. “We’re getting cake?!”

“Troy, you’re not getting cake. Jeff and I are going cake tasting tomorrow so we can decide what we want to have for the wedding.” Annie looked over at Troy.

“You're still coming to D&D tomorrow, though, right? I want a chance to play my new character,” Britta asked.

“Of course we're still coming. The cake tasting is at 1:00.”

“Since you guys are already going to be at the bakery…” Troy shrugged, raising his hands.

“Guys! Can we get back to filming?” Jeff raised his voice. “Abed, do you want us to go from the top?”

“No, no. Let’s go from ‘The body’s still warm’. But Annie, instead of running over to the window, instead, say something like ‘he’s taunting us’.” Abed sat back down as everyone took their places again. “And...Action!”

Jeff walked over to the body, placing a gloved hand on the forehead. “The body’s still warm. We must have just missed him.”

“He's taunting us,” Annie clenched her fist dramatically. “The bastard's taunting us!”

“Relax, Houlihan. He's getting sloppy. We'll catch the sonuva bitch soon.” Jeff walked over to the window, examining the frame. “In fact, I think he might have finally slipped. There's blood on the outside of the frame.”

“That means…!” Annie's eyes went wide.

“Exactly. We've finally got a DNA sample. And if those eggheads in Quantico are right, he's probably in the system for something.”

Annie ran to the door. “Get forensics in here now!”

* * *

The next evening, at Troy, Abed, and Britta's new apartment, the group sat around the table as Abed finished going over his notes.

"Okay, so when you guys left off last session, you'd just fought the Ogre Lord, and Britta's character, Placidia, was killed.” He looked up. “Britta, would you like to introduce your new character?”

“Yes! I am now playing Glendora, a half-elf Beast Master with a panther companion!”

Everyone groaned. “Seriously, Britta?  _ Another  _ Beast Master? You know there are other classes, right?” Troy complained through a mouthful of cake.

“And let me guess, this panther companion also just happens to only have one eye?” Jeff added.

“None of the other classes can have pets, you dicks,” Britta retorted. “I want to have a pet cat.”

“You could always play a wizard or a warlock with a cat familiar,” Abed interjected.

“I don't know that my cleric would like being in a party with a warlock,” Shirley said. “Abigail the Pious already has her hands full trying to convert Jeff's fighter.”

“Shirley, you do know that Jesus doesn't exist in this world, right?” Jeff looked at Shirley.

“Then explain how St Cuthbert exists! That's a real saint, even if he is Catholic! So Jesus has to exist!”

As the group continued to argue about their characters, Annie felt her phone vibrate. She looked to see who was calling, and when she saw the number, quietly excused herself from the table, shaking her head when Jeff began to stand up, and headed into the hall.

After a couple of minutes, everyone settled down, Britta agreeing to try a different class if her current character died. Abed looked around the table, finally noticing Annie's absence. “Where'd Annie go?”

“She had to take a call in the hallway. She'll be back in a bit,” Jeff explained.

“Hey, why were you guys so late today?” Troy asked, shoveling another piece of cake into his mouth.

“We stopped by the doctor's office after the cake tasting,” Jeff answered.

“The doctor's office? Why did you need to go there, Jeffrey?” Shirley leaned across the table. 

“Yeah, Jeff, what did you do?” Britta snarked.

Jeff rolled his eyes. “I didn't do anything, Britta. We went to the doctor so Annie could get her leg looked at. I guess she smacked it harder than she thought yesterday and it was bugging her.”

“Well,” Troy said, cake tumbling from his mouth, “I'm just glad you brought us some cake. The baker you guys picked is really good.”

“Troy, we bought that at Kroger's.” As Jeff replied to Troy, Annie walked back into the apartment, her eyes glistening at the corners and a small smile on her face. As Jeff's gaze met hers, she gave him a brief nod. His eyes went wide, and it took all of his self-control not to leap from his seat and hug her. As she sat down next to him, Annie pushed her chair in closer to Jeff's, interlacing her fingers with his under the table.

Britta eyed the couple suspiciously. “What was that look?”

“What look?” Jeff met Britta's gaze.

“That look you gave each other.”

“Oh, Britta, you know how Jeff and Annie are always looking at each other. They're just in love,” Shirley said before Jeff could reply.

Britta's eyes narrowed. “I guess.”

“Okay, if everyone's ready, I'd like to get started,” Abed cut in. “Like I said, you'd just fought the Ogre King and Placidia fell during the battle. During your return journey to the city of Hawthorne, you encounter a half-elf named Glendora, who joins your group of adventurers. About two days' ride from Hawthorne, you find the roads blocked by fallen trees and must take a detour through the forest. To the North lie lands marginally under the control of Lord Hawthorne, though often beset by bandits, while to the South lie lands that are largely uninhabited, save for a smattering of kobold and gnoll tribes.”

“I say we go to the North. It's probably safer, even if there are bandits,” Troy offered.

“I don't know. We're less likely to run into enemies if we head south,” Annie replied.

“Abed, which direction is going to be faster?” Shirley asked.

“Go ahead and roll a Nature check.”

“Oh, I'm no good at Nature!” Shirley rolled a die. “I got a 12.”

“Okay, you know that to the North the forest continues unabated for dozens of miles, while to the South it quickly gives way to open plains. There's also a fort about half a day's ride to the South where you could rest and resupply.”

“Okay, I really think we should head south.” Annie squeezed Jeff's hand as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah, let's go south,” Jeff added.

“If we go south, aren't we trespassing on the lands of the kobolds and the gnolls though?” Britta replied, eliciting a groan from the rest of the group.

“Seriously, Britta? Do you have to do this every time?”

“I just think we should be more respectful of the people that were here first.”

“Are kobolds and gnolls  _ really _ people, Britta?” Troy asked.

“Well, I think this would be a good opportunity for me to bring the light of St. Cuthbert, and by extension,  _ The Lord _ , to these kobolds and gnolls,” Shirley said, cutting in.

“You know, Shirley, you don't have to proselytize every single group of people we run into. I mean, you almost got us killed by dwarves because you tried to convince them that they were going to go to hell for worshipping Moradin,” Jeff replied.

The group began to argue again, Shirley with Jeff about religion, and Britta with Troy about what counted as a person. After several minutes, Abed raised his voice. “Your arguing has attracted a hunting party of gnolls to you. A group of four hyena-like humanoids carrying wicked-looking spears and wearing leather armor stalks out of the treeline. Everyone, roll for initiative.” The group rolled, announcing their rolls in turn. “Okay, Britta, you rolled highest, you go first.”

“I want to talk to the gnolls and see if they’re only here because we’re trespassing on their land.”

“Okay, do you speak Gnoll?”

“No. But I speak Elvish!”

“Okay. They have no idea what you’re saying. One of the gnolls throws a spear at you.” Abed rolled a few dice. “You take 4 damage. Jeff, your turn.”

“I charge the gnoll closest to me and try to stab it with my sword.” Jeff rolled a die. “Does a 15 hit?”

“Yes. Roll for damage.”

“8”

“The gnoll is wounded but remains standing. Shirley, you’re next.”

“I cast Guiding Bolt on the gnoll that threw the spear at Britta.” The group battled the gnolls, triumphing after a harrowing fight. Despite the group’s protests, Britta insisted on properly burying the gnolls. As they moved to get back on their way, the intercom buzzed

“Sounds like the pizza’s here. Don’t worry, I’ll get it.” Jeff stood up, giving Annie a gentle squeeze on the shoulder as he turned to leave.

As Jeff walked out of the apartment, Britta looked at Annie suspiciously. “So, what was that phone call you had to take earlier?”

“It was nothing. Just the doctor following up on something from earlier,” Annie replied.

“Uh-huh. Is that why you and Jeff have been acting weird since then?”

“You’ve had this weird look on your face, and you gave Jeff a weird look and nod when you came back in. What happened at the doctor?”

“Britta, nothing happened,” Annie replied, exasperation beginning to show in her voice. “They just ran a couple of tests while we were there and called to tell me the results were in already.”

“I thought you were just having your leg looked at. Why did they need to run tests?”

“There was something else I was worried about, so they ran some tests for me since I was there. And now I’m not worried about it anymore.”

“What, did Jeff knock you up or something?” Britta said, half-joking. As she did, Jeff walked back into the apartment carrying the pizzas.

“Hey, what’re you guys talking about?” Jeff asked as he set the box down on the kitchen counter.

“Britta’s been grilling Annie on why you guys had to go to the doctor and what her phone call was about,” Troy answered.

“She seems to think that Annie’s pregnant. Isn’t that silly, Jeffrey?” Shirley added.

The color drained from Jeff’s face and his eyes went wide. He looked at Annie questioningly. Annie looked back at Jeff, her eyes just as wide and eyebrows raised.

“Okay! What the hell is that look?” Britta pointed at Jeff accusingly. “ _ Did _ you knock her up?”

“Yeah, man. You both look really freaked out all of a sudden.” Troy looked back and forth between Jeff and Annie.

Jeff sat back down, taking Annie’s hand in his. “You want to tell them?”

“They’ve pretty much figured it out at this point, Jeff. We might as well,” Annie replied.

“No!” Britta and Shirley both exclaimed.

“Dude!” Troy said, shocked.

“Well, we were planning on waiting until after the wedding to tell people, given it’s only a few weeks out, but,” Annie paused, taking a deep breath. “I’m pregnant!”

Everyone sat in silence for a moment. Abed finally spoke, “Cool. Cool cool cool.”

“Oh! That’s wonderful!” Shirley crooned. “Even if you did conceive out of wedlock. I’m sure since the little bundle of joy won’t be here until after you’re married the Good Lord can make an exception.”

“How tolerant of you, Shirley,” Britta commented. “So Jeff, I’m surprised you’re still here. I figured you would have taken off as soon as the prospect of fatherhood came up.”

Jeff shot Britta a dirty look. “So glad to know you think so highly of me. I’m not going to pretend that I’m not freaked out by the whole thing. But after we had a little scare a few months ago, I had a nice chat with Andre about fatherhood, and he helped me realize that even if I’m not one-hundred percent ready for this to happen, I’m not  _ my  _ father. I’m not going to just cut and run because I’m scared.” Jeff squeezed Annie’s hand. “Plus, I have the best partner for this that I could ask for.”

“And like usual, your partner is the one who has to do all the work while you take credit for it.”

“Britta!” Annie gave Britta a cutting look.

“What? You’re the one that has to carry the thing for nine months and then push it out. Jeff just has to stand there and watch!” Britta gesticulated wildly in Jeff’s direction.

“Once again, thanks for the huge vote of confidence, Britta.” Jeff gave her a sarcastic thumbs up. “It’s not like I won’t be there to help Annie with stuff throughout the whole thing, or, you know, help raise the kid.”

“Jeffrey, I think you’re going to be an excellent father,” Shirley said.

“Yeah, Man. I mean, you were basically our Greendale dad for years. If you can deal with Pierce and Chang, you can definitely take care of a kid,” Troy smiled at Jeff and Annie. “Have you guys thought about names at all?”

“Thank you! And we just found out today, so not really,” Jeff replied.

“Oh, um, I actually kind of have a few names in mind,” Annie added.

Jeff laughed softly. “Of course you do.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “But seriously guys, the pizza’s getting cold and I’m sure Abed wants to get back to the game.”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow your baby once you have them. I was hoping to do a remake of  _ Baby Geniuses _ .” Abed shuffled some of his papers.

“Okay, Abed, I have two questions about that. First, why?  _ Baby Geniuses _ is a terrible movie. And second, were you expecting a yes?” Jeff looked at Abed, questioningly.

“That’s why I wanted to do a remake. I think it’s a solid premise, the original just had some poor execution,” Abed replied. “And, I was hoping you and Annie would at least discuss it. I can’t pay you, but I’ll give you both an executive producer credit.”

Jeff opened his mouth to respond, then quickly closed it. Instead, Annie opted to answer. “Abed, Jeff and I will discuss it, but you should really understand that a baby isn’t just something you can use as a prop. It’s a human being.”

“Ooh, Annie, if you and Jeff have a boy, I have lots of baby stuff that I'd love to pass on to you if you're interested!” Shirley added. 

“Thank you, Shirley. That'd be wonderful!” Annie smiled at Shirley.

“So, I have a question for you guys,” Troy spoke up. “Where is the baby going to sleep? Isn’t your apartment a one-bedroom, Jeff?”

“We were planning on looking for a bigger place after the wedding. We’ve been talking about moving for a while anyway. Maybe somewhere with a yard.” 

“Can you afford that? I know Greendale doesn't exactly pay the best.”

“Obviously we'll have to find something relatively cheap, but I think we can make it work. You're not usually so concerned about stuff like this, Troy. What's up?”

“Well, I was kind of at a loss for what to get you guys for a wedding present, and I was thinking either a jet-ski or I could buy you a house.” Troy shrugged. “I was kind of leaning towards the jet-ski, but now that Annie's pregnant, I guess the house might be a better option.”

“Troy, you don't-” Annie began.

Jeff cut her off. “That's really cool of you, Troy, but shouldn't you worry about buying  _ yourself _ a house first? I mean, this place was okay when you were a broke student, but now that you're a millionaire, isn't it time for an upgrade?”

“I guess. Still, I want to do this for you. It just feels like the right thing to do.” Troy shrugged. “Why don't you guys think about it for a little while and let me know, okay?”

“Okay, Troy. We'll do that.” Annie smiled at him. 

“Guys, I think we should get back to the game,” Jeff interjected. 

“That's probably a good idea,” Britta added. “Where were we, Abed?”

“You'd just buried the gnolls and were about to head on your way.”

* * *

That night, as they were getting ready for bed, Annie looked at Jeff. “That went better than I expected.”

“Yeah. I honestly expected more of a lecture from Britta and Shirley.”

“Me too. I'm glad Shirley was so understanding. I'm still a bit surprised at how Britta reacted though. She seemed so surprised that you weren't running for the hills.”

“You know how she can be. I think sometimes she still sees me as the guy I was when we first met. And to be fair, that Jeff  _ would _ have run screaming. But-” Jeff leaned down and kissed Annie softly. “-that's just not me anymore.”

“That's true. I like the new Jeff. As sweet as the old one was, you're even sweeter.” 

They chatted for a bit longer until Annie drifted off to sleep. As Jeff lay in bed, he thought about all that has changed over the course of the last year, and though it all still felt like a dream sometimes, he had never been happier.


End file.
